56. The representative of the Plurinational State of Bolivia said that, in March 2011, Bolivia had submitted document IP/C/W/554, entitled "Article 27.3(b) and the Legalization of Biopiracy: Trends, Impacts and Why It Needs to be Amended", to contribute to the work programme of the Council and to continue the process of reviewing and amending one of the most controversial articles of the TRIPS Agreement. The document demonstrated how biopiracy had surged since the adoption of that article, turning what had previously been a number of isolated cases into a veritable race to patent genetic resources and their derivatives. The field of biotechnology could not be treated in a same manner as other areas of human knowledge. The patenting of life forms or parts thereof as genetic resources or their derivatives had serious implications for the livelihoods, beliefs and values of many populations and cultures in numerous parts of the world, and in particular those of the indigenous peoples of Bolivia.
57. The negative aspects of the TRIPS provision were not just limited to ethical questions. As stated in document IP/C/W/554, there was an adverse impact on various sectors of human activity at the global level, including agriculture, health and food, owing to the concentration of gene and technology patents in the hands of some ten multinational companies globally, which held a monopoly in that regard. If that was what Members were hoping to develop with the IP system, then they were heading for trouble. For the above reasons, he reiterated the imperative need to review the aforementioned Article as proposed in documents IP/C/W/554 of March 2011 and IP/C/W/545 of February 2010.
