Event Report on the 13th UN Convention on Biological Diversity 2016 – “Synthetic Biology, Meet Traditional Knowledge”
Megadiverse countries are worried that commercially valuable DNA sequences stored digitally would allow access to anyone without needing physical access to the genetic resources. This could lead to biopiracy, where such information could be exploited without any benefits flowing back into the source country. The greatest fear, perhaps, is how these products could be commercialised, patented, then sold back to the original countries as food, drugs, or other necessities.