The Knowledge of Brazilian Students and Researchers About the Legislation of Conselho de Gestão do Patrimônio Genético – CGEN

• Autor(a) principal: Carlini, E. A.
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Mendes, F. R., Duarte-Almeida, J. M., Mattos, P. E. O., Pires, J. M.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Fitos
• Texto Completo: https://revistafitos.far.fiocruz.br/index.php/revista-fitos/article/view/83
• topic: CGEN; Traditional knowledge; MP 2186; Legislation on Phytotherapics; Genetic Resources; Biodiversity Research; CGEN; Conhecimento Tradicional; MP 2.186; Legislação de Fitoterápicos; Patrimônio Genético; Pesquisa da Biodiversidade

The Convention on Biological Diversity established that each country should create laws and mechanisms to preserve its biodiversity, as well as regulate the access to it and the sharing of benefits that result from its industrial exploration. The MP 2.186 established norms for the access to the genetic resources and the associated traditional knowledge. However, this law had high fees to the scientific community due to the large number of bureaucratic requirements to pass projects in the Conselho de Gestão do Patrimônio Genético - CGEN (Council of Management of Genetic Resources). The objective of the present work was to evaluate, among the authors of posters presented in the XX Symposium of Brazilian Medicinal Plants, the level of knowledge they have regarding legislation. We also aimed at assessing how many of those works were submitted to the CGEN, and whether they were approved. Out of the 449 authors who answered the questionnaire, the great majority (84%) had worked with native plants. Half of the works (50%) involved access to traditional knowledge, and the plants were obtained by collection in 68% of the studies. On the other hand, only 9.6% of the works had been authorized by the CGEN, and 5.1% were waiting for authorization. Among the graduate students, 54.7% declared not even knowing the CGEN (a number that dropped to 27.3% among post graduates and to 13.1% among the researchers). This survey corroborates the thorough lack of knowledge the scientific community has on the Brazilian legislation regarding the access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge, mainly among graduate students.