A BIOPIRATARIA NA ÉPOCA DAS CIÊNCIAS ÔMICAS

Other nations have appropriated Brazil’s natural resources since the arrival of the Portuguese on Brazilian soil. Throughout history, countless explorers have arrived here to appropriate Brazil’s riches, especially its biodiversity. With advances in genetic engineering and omics sciences, there has been a change in how biopiracy is practiced, moving from the trafficking of fauna and flora species to the appropriation of genetic information from species belonging to the natural genetic heritage with biotechnological potential. This change has important repercussions on the global patent registration system and poses new challenges to monitoring and protecting Brazil’s genetic heritage.