Developing countries are the main providers of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Conversely, most intellectual property rights (IPRs) on seeds and medicines are concentrated in developed countries. The study concludes that this has some disadvantages for developing countries. Thus, patents on seed or pharmaceutical products sometimes make the access to such products for the poor more difficult and expensive; there are hardly any positive effects of IPRs on fighting poverty by contrast. This is the result of a study, presented by Christiane Gerstetter (Ecologic Institute) and Sebastian Oberthür (Institute for European Studies) to the European Parliament. The study and the presentation are available for download.
On behalf of the Development Committee, Member of Parliament Catherine Grèze welcomed the results of the study.
Downloads:
- Study [pdf, 1 MB, English]
- Presentation [pdf, 482 kB, English]