UN countries adopt treaty to better trace origins of genetic resources under global patent system

GENEVA (AP) — U.N. member countries have concluded a new treaty to help ensure that traditional knowledge about genetic resources — like medicines derived from exotic plants in the Andes mountains — is properly traced. It marks the first time the 193 member states of the U.N.’s World Intellectual Property Organization have reached agreement on patent protections about historic knowledge from indigenous cultures, which have long been exploited by colonists, traders and others. The treaty doesn’t address compensation for indigenous communities for their historic know-how about products drawn from things like from tropical plants.