Question

Explain biopiracy with the help of an example.

Answer 1

Biopiracy means the unfair or unauthorised use of biological resources or traditional knowledge of local communities for profit, without giving them proper credit or compensation.

Examples:

• A foreign company took a patent on the neem tree for its antifungal properties, even though it has been used in Indian traditional medicine for a long time.
• An American company tried to patent Basmati rice, even though it is a traditional crop of India.