Comments on: Amerindian DNA Sells for 55 Dollars

By: Don’t Sell Our DNA Say Cook Islanders

Don’t Sell Our DNA Say Cook Islanders — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 17:22:55 +0000

[...] 30, 2007 in DNA Around the World The Karitiana Indians of the Amazon aren’t the only ones offended by the sale of their DNA. The Cook Islands has declared that it will no longer be “the guinea pig of the South [...]

By: Mendel’s Garden Genetics Blog Carnival #16

Mendel’s Garden Genetics Blog Carnival #16 — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 09:58:09 +0000

[...] at Eye on DNA, one of my most popular posts in recent weeks - Amerindian DNA Sells for 55 Dollars [...]

By: Noreen

Noreen — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:57:14 +0000

Hmmm, I’m torn. On the one hand, science benefits us and I read that the sale of blood was to other scientists under strict guidelines and not for commerical purposes. That’s how our world works, unfortunately, our trades are conducted with money - even the most sacred. Medical doctors and mental health care professionals,for example, get paid money either by the government, or through private transactions. We walk a tricky line between need (money for our services to live) and greed (distortion of our services to community in the pursuit of money). Until we clean up our act spiritually, Traditionals who are trying to save their own people from our cultural distortions are not going to trust us or want to deal with us. And we can clean up our act if we make it a priority.

I also think that the scientists who originally collected that blood had an obligation to explain to their research subjects what would be done with the genetic material. That was unethical and usually there is an ethics board to hold people accountable for such a failure. Legal doesn’t make it right.

Unfortunately, the way it was handled by the scientists in question does smack of hangover colonialist attitudes - and science, like any of our other cultural institutions has been steeped in such attitudes and arrogant practices. Just look at how we put human remains and other animal species on display for our “education”. Yet we’d be horrified if someone stuck our dead relative in a museum (robbed from the grave) or stuffed our beloved “pet” dog or cat and put the carcass somewhere official for all to gawk at. Sometimes our most “respected” institutions don’t act all that respectable, when you consider the larger philosophical and ethical questions of privilege and entitlement.

I see though that I have to pay $100 to participate in the project (rather than be a paid subject) and I probably will do some form of testing, and likely the Genographic Project, because I have questions about my own genealogy, that I’d liked answered, so I personally need such information as the Project is seeking to create.

Cultural stories should be able to survive science and - again, depending on the intention of the scientists with the results - could enrich the understanding of those stories.

By: Hsien

Hsien — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:07:22 +0000

Thank you for the thoughtful comment, suberite. I also feel uncomfortable pointing fingers especially when “big pharma” is often portrayed as being evil. I’m a former researcher and have worked for pharmaceutical companies and I have friends who are still working in the field. All of us want to improve people’s lives and I can’t think of a single one who’s deliberately being evil. Sometimes research goes the wrong way but hopefully institutional review boards (IRB’s) and ethics committees are comprised of a wide range of people who monitor each study carefully.

FYI, the Genographic Project addresses the issue of indigenous populations in their FAQ although I found it too nebulous to be satisfactory.

By: suberite

suberite — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 19:25:04 +0000

We all have a tendency to simplify the big questions, and from pedestrian reasoning, try and squish things into diminutive compartments. Sound bite; two minutes 25 words or less- explain whether itâ€™s wrong or right. Good or Evil. (Capitol punishment, euthanasia, bio-piracy, etc.)
Itâ€™s true, America (the New World. It used to be Europe that did the exploiting. Before that, North Africa) has exploited the North American Indian (and a long list of everybody else). But I think we make a big mistake when we say the US government this, and the Pharmaceutical companies that. You or I may not work in the US government or at a Pharmaceutical company, but maybe our Aunt does, or our childrenâ€™s mateâ€™s brotherâ€™s friendâ€™s father. And anyway, it doesnâ€™t matter if we work there or not. In some respect, we are Them. We buy and use the products. Pointe finale. We are all connected. Change can come only on an individual level. Whatâ€™s missing from the equation? Itâ€™s not education, per se. Education sounds a little missionary to me. But what is missing is dialogue, discussion; Exchange of Ideas. Ask yourself this; what makes you the most upset? Is it that someone asked you for a favour and didnâ€™t pay you back, or that someone asked you for something and later on you found out that it was being used differently but no one bothered to tell you? There is nothing worse than feeling used. If there is no hidden agenda, then the feelings of being used come from lack of communication. And Communication, my friends, is the biggest challenge in life. We get to practice with our parents and then our peers, later on with our children. We practice everyday with strangers and small time acquaintances.
Itâ€™s funny; I was going to enrol my father in the Genographic Project as a gift. I certainly wasnâ€™t aware of any indigenous conflict. But you see, thatâ€™s the problem; why arenâ€™t these issues addressed on their site? Iâ€™m not joking. I am serious. We do this sort of thing on a smaller scale in our own lives; we get into a pickle, and if no one is looking, we sweep it under the carpet before there is any dust.
Question: Do people think that Big Business and Big Government and Big Brother are the only groups who grapple with the concept of openness and honesty? Everybody grapples with this; everyone has a space to question themselves. Which leads to another big question: what can we live with and what can we not?

By: Hsien

Hsien — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 08:29:58 +0000

“plundering” - Talk about fighting words! Depends on the perspective, doesn’t it….

By: Hsien

Hsien — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 08:28:42 +0000

As always, anthropologist John Hawks has some insightful comments to say on this subject.

The blood that would not rest

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:41:41 +0000

I covered the biopiracy issue a few years back for The Alchemist on ChemWeb with regard to the Neem tree, but this takes it to the next level where companies are not simply plundering natural sources they are plundering the people themselves

By: First Results from The Genographic Project Mitochondrial DNA Database

First Results from The Genographic Project Mitochondrial DNA Database — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:29:52 +0000

[...] up on yesterday’s discussion of the sale (or biopiracy) of Amerindian DNA for research purposes, National Geographic’s Genographic Project has published the first [...]

By: Hsien

Hsien — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:49:32 +0000

Hi Jason, I’m guessing the researchers had a good idea what they were going to do with the samples but didn’t communicate it well to the study participants. It’s a tricky situation, though, when the participants are not in tune with modern scientific practices. But now the Amerindians are educating themselves on the issue of research and biopiracy, so what’s the best way forward? They’re doing a good job of raising a ruckus but I hope they’re also working on productive ways to benefit themselves as well as science.