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TWN
Info Service on Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge (Aug21/01) Medicinal plant sequence information in the INSDC and its country of origin Failure to label digital sequence information (DSI) with its country of origin in research databases has emerged as an important issue in discussions on access and benefit sharing for genetic resources. This lack of labeling must be corrected in order for benefits from DSI to be shared fairly and equitably. Even if a multilateral system for sharing DSI benefits is successfully negotiated, consistent and correct country of origin labeling of DSI is very likely to remain an important measure to enable implementation and monitoring. It is well-known that the large majority of sequence information in the largest “open access” DSI database, the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Consortium (INSDC), lacks a country-of-origin tag. Defenders of the INSDC nevertheless cite a voluntary country-of-origin tag available to researchers as a purportedly useful mechanism for benefit sharing. This optional tagging has even been described as “an existing traceability system”. The INSDC’s defenders further maintain that when the country of origin tag is used that the information entered by laboratories is generally accurate. But can a voluntary tag that is mostly not used be called a “traceability system”? And is it true that the INSDC country-of-origin tag, when it is used, contains accurate information? A new TWN Briefing Paper, ‘Medicinal plant sequence information in the INSDC and its country of origin’ examines the use, and non-use, of the country-of-origin tag in INSDC sequences of medicinal plant species from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It confirms that the vast majority of such sequences in the INSDC are not labeled by their country of origin. The study finds that the overwhelming majority of unlabeled sequences of medicinal plants from the Global South have been uploaded by researchers from the North. It further finds that in the minority of cases where the country of origin tag is used that the information provided by uploading laboratories is frequently inaccurate. As a result, this study concludes that is not credible to claim that “an existing traceability system” exists in the INSDC. With best
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