Bio-Piracy

The World

The Mexican state of Chiapas contains an abundance of medicinal plants used by the indigenous healers in the region. A few years ago, an American scientist working there began a project to search for drugs based on these plants, as well as preserve traditional knowledge and provide income to local communities. But some local people accused the project of bio-piracy and the project was cancelled. Tatiana Schreiber reports on what went wrong.

Are you with The World?

The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.

When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.