Kējì Fǎxué Pínglùn (Dec 2005)
台灣民族藥學知識及其保護 Ethno-pharmacological Knowledge of Taiwan and its Protection
Abstract
原住民藥學知識長久以來減輕或治療原住民族的病痛，也是近代藥學發展所依據的可貴來源。因此製藥公司都熱衷於進行生物探勘。然而生物探勘的成本頗為昂貴，傳統知識可以提高篩選成功的機率。台灣原住民有豐富的藥用植物學傳統知識，過去一百年間民族植物學者的調查，作為藥用的植物約400 種之多，治療的疾病也相當廣泛，包括家醫科、外科、皮膚科、眼科、耳鼻喉科、齒科、內科、腸胃科、流行傳染病科、胸腔科、骨科、神經內科、婦產科等50 種症狀。 傳統知識的保護，可分為知識權的保障，以及知識維持與創新機制的保護等兩方面。傳統知識權的保護，可分成包括專利、營業秘密等智慧財產權的，以及契約協定、習慣法等非智財權方面的規範。就智慧財產權的保護而言，需要將傳統民族藥物學知識分成「公領域」與「私領域」兩類來討論。 台灣原住民傳統知識的保護，面臨若干問題。在知識權的保障方面，以智財權以外的權利保護而言，目前最大的缺憾是尚未能建立事先告知同意與惠益分享的制度。在消極性保護方面，最大的困難在於台灣並非WIPO與會員國，以及CBD、UPOV、伯恩條約的簽約國，因此縱然資料庫或註冊工作已經完成，並不能保證能夠順利地讓各國專利主管機關採用，作為防止生物剽竊審核的參考。就積極性的保護而言，最大的問題在於權利歸屬主體之認定困難。其主要原因是在於傳統領域的模糊化，所謂惠益分享，究應歸屬於哪些人，有認定的困難。以營業秘密而言，由於私有財產制、市場經濟已經普遍施行原住民部落，因此使得營業秘密的保障，發生很大的困難。就知識維持與創新機制的保護方面而言，最大的難題在於傳統慣習的急遽消失，以及部落自主性的衰弱，使得原有促使傳統知識保存與創新的人與環境 的緊密關係，並不易回復。 Indigenous ethnopharmacological knowledge has been used to ease or cure pain and diseases of indigenous peoples for a long time and is also a valuable source for the development of modern drugs. For this reason, many pharmaceutical companies are engaged in bioprospecting. However, cost of bioprospecting is fairly expensive. Traditional knowledge may be used to increase probability of sieving out useful pharmaceutical materials from numerous biomaterials. Indigenous peoples of Taiwan have created rich ethnobotanical knowledge. During the past one hundred years, ethnobotanists have recorded more than 400 medicinal plant species that were used to curing about 50 diseases, covering dermatology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, dental pain, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, respiratory disorders, orthopedics, neurology, obstetrics/gynecology and others. Protection of traditional knowledge (TK) is divided into two dimensions: safeguard of knowledge rights and of system that maintaining and innovating knowledge. The protection of TK rights contains intellectual property right regime, such as patent and trade secret, and non-intellectual property right regime, including contract and customary laws. Regarding the protection of intellectual property right regime, discussion should be made focusing on “public domain” and “private domain” into which traditional ethnopharmacological knowledge is divided. Protecting TK of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan confronts several problems. As to the safeguard of knowledge rights, the most serious defect of the protection of non-intellectual property right regime is that legal institutions of prior informed consent and benefit sharing have not yet been established. Regarding passive protection, the problem is that Taiwan is neither a member of WIPO nor a signatory country of CBD, UPOV and Bern Convention, hence there is no guarantee that databases and register established in Taiwan would be adopted by patent offices around the world and accepted as examining references to prevent biopiracy. Regarding positive protection, the most significant problem is that it is too difficult to identify right holders. The major reason is that traditional territories are now too indistinct to identify who should share the benefits from the knowledge. As to trade secret, private property system and market economy are now widespread within indigenous tribes, adopting trade secret regime to protect traditional knowledge arises critical problems. As to the protection of the system that maintaining and innovating knowledge, the most vital problem is that traditional customs are vanishing rapidly and autonomy of tribes becomes more and more powerless so that it is not easy to restore the original living style that ensure intimate human–environmental relationship, which is essential for the creation of traditional knowledge.
