Author:
Publication: Myfoxorlando.com
Date: October 21, 2010
URL: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/offbeat/102110-colgate-accused-of-stealing-thousand-year-old-toothpaste-ncx
A legal dispute between the U.S. and India
over a herbal toothpaste was leaving a bitter aftertaste between the two countries
Thursday, with Colgate Palmolive accused of filing a bogus patent.
Colgate, the world's largest producer of toothpaste,
patented a tooth cleaning powder in the hope that it would take the multibillion-dollar
Indian oral hygiene market by storm.
However, Indian activists claim that the patent
is bogus because the ingredients -- including clove oil, camphor, black pepper
and spearmint -- have been used for the same purpose for hundreds, "if
not thousands," of years on the subcontinent.
The dispute is likely to become a test case
for who owns India's folk medicines -- a repository potentially worth billions.
The American household goods giant was granted
the patent in the U.S. in June for what it claimed was a groundbreaking "red
herbal dentifrice." The patent, the Indian activists allege, is the latest
act of "biopiracy" -- whereby Western corporations plunder techniques,
plants or genes used in the emerging world for centuries, for commercial profit.
"This toothpowder is classical in origin,"
said Devender Triguna, the president of the Association of Manufactures of
Ayurvedic Medicines, an Indian body that promotes traditional remedies. It
is demanding that the Indian government take legal action against Colgate.
"The ingredients date back to antiquity.
They have been used by the common Indian man for thousands of years. So how
can it possibly be patented?" Triguna asked.
Colgate did not respond to a request for comment.
However, its patent filing argues that the use of red iron oxide, which is
less abrasive than ingredients in traditional toothpaste, is new.
The case is the latest to anger India as it
becomes increasingly vocal over the alleged pillaging of its ancient knowledge
for commercial gain. It is one of 17 nations to form the Group of Like-Minded
Megadiverse Countries, an alliance that has accused richer countries of tapping
the emerging world's natural resources for medicines and cosmetics without
paying royalties.
India is in the process of creating 34 million
webpages to document its ancient medicinal techniques to stop them from being
claimed by foreign profiteers.
