Oh Brother, Taro!
This is almost too silly to imagine.
HONOLULU - On an idyllic spit of lush landscape at the
University of Hawaii sprout the massive heart-shaped leaves of hundreds of taro plants.
Native Hawaiians hold the plant sacred in cultural lore, which is why many are now demanding that the university relinquish three patents claiming ownership to taro varieties developed by one of its scientists.
. . . But tough ethical questions are being raised about allowing private companies to patent and profit from Mother Nature: Who owns the living thing that yields the revenue? Are companies simply pirating local knowledge and resources from indigenous people?
What tough ethical questions? Developing drugs from plants that cure people of cancer is a “tough ethical question?”
Many locals accuse the University of Hawaii, which in 2003 began sending Diversa exotic microbes unearthed by researchers in volcanoes and elsewhere in the state, of giving away things that belong to the Hawaiian people and cannot be sold.
What belongs to the “Hawaiian people” that cannot be sold? The DNA that the Hawaiian people had no idea existed 150 years ago? What group “owns” anything?
The following quote at the end of the article will set the stage for those who want to read the rest of the article:
The Hawaiian people, it is believed, came from a second brother, making the taro plant part of their common ancestry. “Our genealogy arises from the taro,” said Hawaii activist Mililani Trask. “The taro patents are a desecration.”
Where was this genealogy detailed in the Akaka bill?
Link.