New European Recommendations for Plants and Plant Products
When a company uses exotic plants like aloe vera for producing cosmetics, it should share the
benefits of this use
with the country from where the plant came. This is the key message in a
communication recently adopted by the European Union Commission.
The use of exotic plants like aloe vera, ginseng, jojoba, and others is
widespread, particularly in cosmetics. Several industry sectors are
investing in research to discover new applications for these so called
"genetic resources" in medicines, cosmetics or agriculture. The
communication urges companies and research institutes not to take
genetic resources from other countries - usually developing countries
that are rich in biodiversity - without their consent. Companies and research institutes should
guarantee that the countries of origin get a fair share of the profits and research results arising
from the use of their resources. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said: "This is an
issue of equity and fairness. The EU wants the developing countries to have a fair and equitable
share of the benefits arising from the use of so-called genetic resources. The Commission wants
to ensure that companies and research institutes act responsibly and share these gains with
developing countries. If these countries use the benefits to protect biodiversity and foster nature
conservation, this could provide a win-win situation for trade and for the environment." By this
action, the EU is taking the lead among industrialized countries in responding to developing
countries' requests for efforts to share the benefits which come from using their resources. The
initiative is in accordance with the 1992 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD) and the Bonn Guidelines on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) adopted under the
Convention in 2002.
Genetic resources are materials of plant, animal, or microbial origin.
They are of fundamental importance to many areas of scientific research,
like plant breeding for agriculture and horticulture, and for a wide range
of industrial sectors, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals,
medicine, and cosmetics. For example, various plants have cosmetic
applications: cinnamon has essential oils with antiseptic properties,
green tea has a free radical scavenging property and horse chestnut is an
astringent. It is also claimed that some of the top-selling botanical
medicines have special properties such as increasing energy (ginseng),
combating anxiety (kava) or treating wounds and skin problems (aloe
vera).
The communication strongly encourages companies and research institutions to use standard
agreements with the providers of genetic resources when they seek access to them. These
agreements should set out terms and conditions under which genetic resources could be accessed
and used and how the benefits from their use should be shared with the providers. Providers of
genetic resources may be governments, local authorities, land owners, indigenous peoples and
local populations. All users of genetic resources are also encouraged to develop their own codes
of conduct as a means of respecting the Convention on Biological Diversity. (European
Commission Press Release of 1/7/04 via Agnet).
