By MORGAN ADDERLEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
madderley@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology (BEST) Commission yesterday launched the Access Benefit Sharing (ABS) Inception Workshop, an initiative to ensure the country benefits from scientific discoveries made using local resources.
BEST Commission acting Director Rochelle Newbold yesterday discussed the goals of the event, which include studying how genetic resources found in The Bahamas are being used in “research and commercialised for profits”, preventing the exploitation of Bahamian resources, and launching a public education and awareness campaign and developing legislation.
“Today we’re implementing a workshop on access benefit sharing, and (ABS) is as it relates to genetic resources that are found in The Bahamas and how these genetic resources are being utilised in research and commercialised for profits,” said Ms Newbold.
“So The Bahamas a part of a project called Access and Benefit Sharing Strengthening for The Bahamas, in which we are in the process of developing legislation to assist the country in ensuring that any medical, industrial - any sort of scientific discoveries that are made utilising our marine resources or plants and animals - that the country can receive benefits from that.”
While she did not give specifics, Ms Newbold said one of the first marine chemicals that went into commercialisation was found in The Bahamas.
“We have several products that are out there that were made from discoveries in The Bahamas. But what has The Bahamas gotten? Nothing.
“And so the whole process - and it’s a global thing that’s happening right now - it’s where countries like ourselves are seeking to get some benefit.”
When asked to provide examples of products people come and take from The Bahamas, Ms Newbold cited ‘bush medicine’.
“It’s a plethora of things that we as Bahamians just take our granted because it’s just part of our cultural heritage,” she said. “But there is a reason these things can function in that way. And scientists want to know what that is. And once they find out then they want to know ‘how can we make money from that?’ And so it’s important for us.
“(Scientists) make medical discoveries, and they make pharmaceutical drugs, and we buy them (out) the store and nobody never knew that was because your grammy had said ‘drink this bush when you have a bellyache,’” she said.
When asked if the goal of the workshop is to prevent The Bahamas from being exploited, Ms Newbold said “most definitely” and added it’s the start of the commission’s public education and awareness initiative.
She added the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Marine Resources, Office of the Attorney General, Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the University of the Bahamas are all participants of the workshop.
The workshop, held at the Hilton, continues today.
Comments
Mmlom 4 years, 10 months ago
The concept that the Bahamas can benefit from their plants is misguided. Pharmaceutical research has to take place, extracting chemical components of a plant that MAY prove beneficial. The chemical derivatives have to be patented BUT before that derivative can be patented a tremendous amount of research, development and testing has to be performed. The country neither has the research facilities, nor the educated, experienced manpower to conduct the testing, or the ability to navigate FDA approval for a drug. The oral history of bush medicine must be preserved. To restrict access to the world’s scientists, who by large receive little for their work is ludicrous. Bahamians with knowledge handed down from elders are passing and sea rise will wash away those resources. Talk and more Commission meetings accomplish nothing.
HIN 4 years, 9 months ago
I agree completely on all points discussed in the previous post by Mmiom that what the BEST Commission is proposing is misguided. While the intention to review the approval process for researchers is worth reviewing, restricting scientist's access is counter-productive, especially in fields that have little to do with protecting local resources. It is indeed ludicrous to prevent scientific research that in most cases will actually benefit the Bahamas. Scientists rarely benefit financially from their research. Meanwhile, while the Commission dithers about about the path forward, indigenous knowledge is rapidly disappearing, while the clock runs out. Most elders with deep knowledge about bush medicine have died within the last 15 years, yet few Bahamians are taking responsibility for recording it for posterity for the benefit of Bahamians. What information has been recorded is mainly to entertain tourists, Many islands in the Bahamas do not even have a written history. Though we Bahamians are proud of our culture, we are not taking our own responsibility for our own resources. while we accuse outsiders of taking our resources. Rising sea levels will within a century, put much of our country underwater. A five-foot rise will put 80% of the Bahamas underwater (see https://www.juancole.com/2015/05/baha...">https://www.juancole.com/2015/05/baha...).
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID