KENYA REPLY ON SHARING OF GENETIC RESOURCES

UNCLAS NAIROBI 001174

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/E, AF/EPS, AND OES/ETC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ETRD TBIO KE
SUBJECT: KENYA REPLY ON SHARING OF GENETIC RESOURCES



1. Econoff delivered reftel points on March 9 to Elijah
Manyara, Director, Department of External Trade, Ministry
of Trade and Industry. Manyara noted that the trade in
genetic resources is an important issue for Kenya, which
feels that its biological diversity has been exploited by
"foreign entities" without approval or compensation. He
promised to raise our points with Kenya's interagency
committee dealing with the Convention on Biological
Diversity, chaired by the Kenya Industrial Property
Institute (KIPI). The response from the committee will be
forwarded to OES/ETC when it is received.


2. Background: As noted by Mr. Manyara, the issue of
exploiting natural resources, including locally-sourced
genetic material is very topical in Kenya. There has been
significant press coverage of the "Genencor" case, in which
individuals from the University of Leicester on a research
grant in 1992 collected samples of "extramophiles" from
Kenya's volcanic lakes. The researchers subsequently sold
the samples to a private company, Genencor International,
which cloned these into enzymes via genetic manipulation,
and later sold the technology to Proctor and Gamble. P&G in
turn reproduced billions of the 'mophiles' and used them as
an essential cleansing ingredient in the company's popular
Tide detergent. Kenya claims that the commercialization of
enzymes based on material from Kenya was illegal. The
Kenya Wildlife Service (which has regulatory authority over
virtually all of Kenya's naturally-occurring flora and
fauna) is pursuing compensation from Genencor.


3. There have been a number of other reported cases of
flora and fauna being "illegally" exported out of Kenya for
the commercial development of pharmaceuticals and
cosmetics. The magazine insert of the widely-read February
27-March 5 EastAfrican newspaper had a number of special
features under the heading, "Assault of the Biopirates."
The articles gave prominent mention of a report "Out of
Africa: Mysteries of Access and Benefit Sharing" produced
by The Edmonds Institute (Edmonds, Washington) and the
African Centre for Biosafety. (See: http://www.edmonds-
institute.org/.)

ROWE