New Internationalist – September 2019

Oceans

I

MARINE

GENE

RUSH

The race is on to patent all marine life –

and some have got a head start. Marine

scientist Robert Blasiak explains to Vanessa

Baird what it means.

T

he genes that make life possible in the

ocean’s extreme environments are its

greatest treasures.

Ta ke t he bac ter ia Shewanella oneidensis,

which has a ‘take it or leave it’ approach to

oxygen: it can live with or without it.

Or the California brown sea hare, a

hermaphroditic mollusc also in posses-

sion of some of the biggest brain cells in

the animal kingdom.

Getting hold of the genetic sequences

of such creatures could be very useful –

and profitable. When an international

group of academic marine scientists

set about trying to find out who was

acquiring patents on such marine gene

sequences they made a startling discov-

ery. They found that nearly half of the

12,998 patent sequences, derived from

the genes of 862 marine species (ranging

in size from a sperm whale to micro-

scopic plankton) had been filed by just

one company – BASF, the German chem-

icals giant. And nearly all were owned by

organizations in just 10 rich countries.^1

What does this mean for human-

kind? Massive potential for biotechnol-

ogy advances for the benefit of all, led

by a dynamic corporate sector? Or a

brand new form of global inequality?

Can marine biodiversity be regulated –

and how?

Robert Blasiak of the Stockholm Resil-

ience Centre, one of the marine scientists

who led the research on marine gene

patents, talks about its consequences.^2

Robert Blasiak: The reporting on our

findings led to quite a bit of finger-point-

ing at BASF. But the statistic that always

SEPTEMBER- OCTOBER 2019 29

Genetically rich crabs at the Center for Marine

Biotechnology in Baltimore.

CAVAN/ALAMY