Old Genes and New Generations

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Herbs, Himalaya and Biodiversity

Ever since life began on Earth, one thing that has been most rai intrinsic to it has been the growth of biodiversity in plants, animals and micro-organisms. The question of mutation, evolution and adaptation of gene varieties has constituted the exclusive domain of millions of years of ongoing experimentation, and one of the most productive laboratories has been the Himalaya.

In this experimentation there are no donors, no multinational sponsors and no directors of research. And yet it has yielded tens of millions of varieties of species of living organism. With the entry of the human race into the picture, human economic activities led to a considerable loss of the world's total biodiversity. Over the last half-century human scientific activity has created a parallel laboratory to undertake genetic engineering— which makes it possible to transfer genes artificially between species, create new species of plants, animals or micro-organisms. This laboratory does have donors, multinationals and directors of research who have access to and claims over the new gene varieties through what has come to be known as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

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Himal Southasian
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