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LATIN
AMERICA:
Gene Study Puts
Indians on Guard
María
Amparo Lasso*
MEXICO CITY, (Tierramérica)
- Scientists involved in the
Genographic Project will go in
search of the genes of
indigenous communities worldwide
in a bid to decipher the puzzle
of how ancient peoples were
disseminated around the planet.
But their task will not be easy
amidst suspicious Latin American
Indians.
The National Geographic Society
and the multinational computer
technology giant IBM set a goal
for the five-year gene study to
collect around 100,000 human
blood samples, establish a
massive genetic database, and
determine prehistoric human
migration patterns.
The cooperation of Indians who
have lived for centuries in
their ancestral lands, like many
of the 40 million indigenous
peoples in Latin America, is
essential for the success of the
project.
Through analysis of the DNA of
the different indigenous groups,
the geneticists can trace
lineage, which could help reveal
the paths taken by the ancestors
of modern humans when they left
Africa 60,000 years ago.
It is important to do this
''before the geographic and
cultural context are lost in the
melting pot,'' says U.S.
scientist and explorer Spencer
Wells, head of the project
launched Apr. 13.
But the field work of Wells, 34,
and his teams at 10 centres
around the world could be an
uphill battle.
Negative experiences in the
past, cultural resistance and
the influence of global activism
against ''biopiracy'' have
triggered suspicion among the
Indians, who worry about their
role in DNA studies, according
to Latin American indigenous
leaders consulted by
Tierramérica.
''They don't even allow their
photo to be taken, let alone
allow their blood to be taken,''
says Santiago de la Cruz, Chachi
indigenous leader, in reference
to the 7,000 members of his
community, one of the few
aboriginal peoples surviving on
the Ecuadorian coast -- and who
are of great interest to the
geneticists.
De la Cruz's parents agreed in
the 1980s to give blood samples
for a medical study, the aim of
which was never clarified.
''Back then, nobody asked many
questions. Today, it's
different,'' says De la Cruz,
vice-president of the
Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE),
one of the most powerful Indian
groups in the Americas.
''I'm not aware of the
Genographic Project, (but) if
they want to enter our
communities, they will have to
talk to us first,'' he adds.
Jecinaldo Barbosa Cabral, leader
of Indians of the Brazilian
Amazon agrees, saying: ''We
aren't opposed (to the
Genographic Project) out of
hand. But if the indigenous
community is not aware of it,
then there cannot be agreement
about it.''
''Imposition, never. We are
tired of being fooled,'' he
says.
The Genographic Project is just
getting under way. Latin
American aboriginal groups have
not yet been contacted by the
organisers, but they will be
once the project sends its
proposals to the scientific
ethics committees and other
local bodies in the different
countries, explains Fabricio
Rodríguez dos Santos, the
Brazilian expert coordinating
the project in the region.
A professor at the Federal
University of Minas Gerais,
Rodríguez dos Santos is vehement
in stating that the aims of the
study are strictly historical
and anthropological. Wells does
the same.
''We are being very clear that
we are not doing anything of
medical relevance and we are not
going to being patenting any of
the genetic information,'' Wells
told Tierramérica.
No pharmaceutical or insurance
companies are involved, he said.
Around 40 million dollars in
financing for the five-year
effort will come, in part, from
the Waitt Family Foundation in
the United States.
And the project leaders hope the
coffers will see some revenues
from global sales of a home-use
kit, costing just under 10
dollars, allowing any citizen to
send in their DNA. A few swipes
of the inside of one's cheek
with a swab is sufficient for a
sample.
'Vampire' Project
The issue of human genes and
patents has fuelled some macabre
stories, and is the focus of a
global debate on ethics.
In Brazil, unscrupulous genetic
studies involving Amazon Indians
like the Yanomami and Ticuna
have been recorded since the
1960s and 1970s.
More recently, scandal erupted
around the case of Internet
sales of genes of the Karitiana
and Suruí Indians, from the
Amazonian state of Rondonia, by
a division of the U.S.-based
Coriell Institute for Medical
Research.
''We were hurt before. They took
our blood, they took our DNA,
and sold it at 85 dollars per
cell. We didn't receive any
benefit,'' says indigenous
leader Almir Suruí.
''There are no guarantees that
this won't happen again. There
are laws, but there is no
assurance they will be obeyed,''
he adds.
Experiences like these cast a
shadow over the Genographic
Project. But the bigger storm
cloud, according to U.S. rights
activists, is the controversial
Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP),
dating to 1991.
The initiative, based at the
Morrison Institute at Stanford
University, in the U.S. state of
California, aimed to study human
genetic variations to help
design new medical treatments,
among other purposes.
Angry anthropologists, activists
and Indians described the
project as ''racist'' and
prevented it from taking place
in its original form. The United
Nations denied funding.
''We called (the HGDP) the
'vampire project' because it
involved collecting the blood of
our indigenous brothers without
their consent,'' says Tarcila
Rivera, a leader of indigenous
and Amazonian women in Peru.
The non-governmental
organisation Indigenous Peoples
Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB),
from the United States,
participated in the campaign
against HGDP. ''This is a
recurrent nightmare,'' says IPCB
director Debra Harry, a Pauite
Indian.
The Genographic Project ''is
essentially the same project we
defeated years ago,'' she told
Tierramérica.
The best evidence to that
effect, according to IPCB, is in
the composition of the
Genographic Project's advisory
council. Luigi Luca
Cavalli-Sforza, renowned
geneticist and leading promoter
of the HGDP, heads the council.
And Wells was his disciple at
Stanford University.
Peruvian activist Rivera backs
the idea of Gabriel Muyuy,
former indigenous senator in
Colombia -- who also remembers
the HGDP -- to convene a debate
about the Genographic Project.
''There are ethical principles
that must be taken into
account,'' Muyuy said.
On the day the project was
launched, the IPCB called for a
boycott.
National Geographic has stressed
that there are significant
differences between the two
projects.
''We have opened up the project
to questions all people might
have and not just scientists. I
think that's a key difference.
With the HGDP it wasn't clear
what was going to be gained from
their research. We want this (Genographic
Project) to be relevant to the
entire world,'' says Wells.
The gene study proposes
establishing a fund to promote
educational and cultural
preservation projects for the
participating indigenous groups.
Saharon Rosset, a scientist with
IBM, the computer giant
entrusted with processing the
project's data, states plainly:
''The Genographic Project has
learned from the failure of the
HGDP. There will be much better
communication with indigenous
peoples, including informed
consent that both individuals
and tribal leaders will
understand.''
Sophisticated IBM computers are
intended to ensure that the
stored information about the DNA
samples remain anonymous. But
each person could learn about
his or her ancestors via the
Internet, using a
non-transferable identification
key.
The DNA samples are not to be
saved in permanent cellular
lines. The samples will be
destroyed at the end of the
project.
In Latin America, the
Genographic Project will be
looking at the origin of the
Quechua peoples of the Lake
Titicaca region, shared by Peru
and Bolivia, the expansion of
the Tupi peoples in several
Amazonian countries, and the
human migrations related to the
domestication of corn varieties.
Are the indigenous communities
perhaps interested in delving
into their own origins?
On the other side of the world,
Cherryl Smith, of the Maori
peoples of New Zealand,
responds: ''Our oral traditions
tell us the names and
connections right back to the
beginnings of time. Why would we
want someone to come along and
confirm or deny what we already
know?'' -- Needless to say,
Smith supports the boycott.
(* María Amparo Lasso is the
Tierramérica editorial director.
With reporting by Stephen Leahy
in Canada, Yadira Ferrer in
Colombia, Mario Osava in Brazil
and Abraham Lama in Peru.
Originally published Apr. 23 by
Latin American newspapers that
are part of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is a
specialised news service
produced by IPS with the backing
of the United Nations
Development Programme and the
United Nations Environment
Programme.)
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