Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar fights against patenting traditional Indian knowledge, starting with turmeric's wound-healing properties. The fight expands to include basmati rice and the issue of biopiracy. A traditional knowledge digital library in India helps prevent inappropriate patents and preserves ancient remedies.
Dr. Raghunat Michelleker successfully fought against an unfair patent on the wound-healing properties of turmeric and established the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) to protect India's traditional knowledge.
Biopiracy, the appropriation of traditional and indigenous knowledge by Western patent offices, poses a significant issue, but the creation of the TKDL has proven effective in challenging and preventing inappropriate patents, addressing the problem.
Deep dives
Dr. Raghunat Michelleker's Battle Against Inappropriate Patents
Dr. Raghunat Michelleker, an Indian scientist, discovered that the wound-healing properties of turmeric had been patented in the US. He was shocked because turmeric has been widely used in India for centuries. Michelleker decided to fight this patent and declared it unfair. He gathered a legal team, challenged the patent, and eventually got it revoked. This victory was just the beginning as Michelleker learned of numerous other inappropriate patents on traditional Indian remedies. To address this systemic problem, he spearheaded the creation of a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). The TKDL is a comprehensive database of India's ancient texts and traditional knowledge, made accessible to patent examiners worldwide. So far, the library has prevented, revoked, or modified over 300 inappropriate patents. Despite controversies regarding its cost and necessity, Michelleker sees the TKDL as a successful tool in protecting India's traditional knowledge.
The Global Issue of Biopiracy
Dr. Raghunat Michelleker's battle against inappropriate patents highlights a larger issue known as biopiracy. Biopiracy refers to the appropriation of traditional and indigenous knowledge by Western patent offices without consent or compensation. Examples of biopiracy include the patenting of indigenous remedies like the treatment for Hodgkin's disease from a plant in Madagascar or the use of ayahuasca from the Amazon rainforest. Anti-globalization activists have raised concerns about the extractive colonialism underlying biopiracy. While various approaches have been taken to address biopiracy, Michelleker's efforts to create the TKDL have been effective in challenging and preventing inappropriate patents.
Building the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) was constructed as a solution to the problem of inappropriate patents on traditional Indian knowledge. The Indian government undertook the task of collecting remedies and practices from ancient texts and created a searchable database for patent examiners worldwide. Led by Dr. Michelleker, a team of experts translated and categorized the vast amount of information, including Ayurvedic medicine and yoga. The TKDL, which aims to make traditional knowledge accessible to patent examiners, has been successful in preventing the grant of inappropriate patents. While criticisms exist about the necessity and cost of the TKDL, it serves as a deterrent to would-be biopirates and ensures that India's traditional knowledge is protected.
Back in the 1990s, Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar was in his office in New Delhi when he came across a puzzling story in the newspaper. Some university scientists in the U.S. had apparently filed a patent for using turmeric to help heal wounds. Mashelkar was shocked, because he knew that using turmeric that way was a well known remedy in traditional Indian medicine. And he knew that patents are for brand new inventions. So, he decided to do something about it – to go to battle against the turmeric patent.
But as he would soon discover, turmeric wasn't the only piece of traditional or indigenous knowledge that had been claimed in Western patent offices. The practice even had its own menacing nickname - biopiracy. And what started out as a plan to rescue one Indian remedy from the clutches of the U.S. patent office, eventually turned into a much bigger mission – to build a new kind of digital fortress, strong enough to keep even the most rapacious of bio-pirates at bay.
This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with help from James Sneed and Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Molly Messick. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Our engineers were Josh Newell and James Willetts. Planet Money's executive producer is Alex Goldmark.