Waorani LeaderWIKIMEDIA, KATE FISHERAmerican biomedical researchers working in Ecuador have met with hostility and distrust in the aftermath of announcements last year that the country plans to sue researchers at Harvard University and the Coriell Institute for Medical Research over blood samples allegedly taken without the Ecuadorian government’s permission during the early 1990s. Representatives of the Waorani indigenous people claim that researchers collected cell lines and DNA samples under false pretenses and distributed them to scientific labs in other countries, which is in direct violation of Ecuador’s biopiracy laws. Public reports about the alleged genetic heist have riled Ecuadorians, which has led to a backlash for all researchers trying to do genetic and public health research in the South American country.
“We directly experienced suspicion,” said biological anthropologist Mark Sorensen of the University of North Carolina, who studies childhood disease in Ecuador. Though he was not involved in the controversial 90s study, last fall Sorensen called off a research project that involved collecting blood samples to evaluate biomarkers for inflammation. “We always try to be extra sensitive about [biopiracy] issues,” he says. “But government officials were reluctant to give approval.” The move forced Sorensen to hold-off his research and advise his graduate student to quickly switch her Ecuador-based dissertation work to another project in the nearby Galapagos Islands.
In statements last July, Ecuadorian Deputy Ombudsman Patricio Benalcazar explained his country’s outrage. Through research breakthroughs and future patents, he wrote, scientists could prosper from the genetic heritage ...
