Ownership of plant genetic resources: screening and industrial utilisation

The economic, legal and social context surrounding the utilisation of plant genetic resources has changed markedly over the past decade. The resurgence of commercial interest in industrial screening, the success of gene transfer technology in plants, and environmental concerns have played major roles in this respect. The debates on intellectual property embodying, on the one hand, demands from developing countries for a more equitable share of the economic benefits from PGRs and on the other, from industrialised countries for strengthening of international patent protection have also been influential. The Convention on Biological Diversity and the TRIPs Agreement of the Uruguay Round of the GATT which aim to address some of these issues both have implications for the use of PGRs. This paper examines the UK user/supplier relationship in plant genetic resources and the implementation of these international treaties in the context of the emerging possibilities for accumulation of technological capabilities. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.