Tuesday, December 01, 2009
(photo: National Park Service)
The National Park Service could soon enjoy a new revenue stream thanks to an unlikely source: bacteria. For years now scientists have been “bioprospecting” in national parks, looking for new sources of medicine or scientific capability and coming away with new marketable products that have made millions of dollars. But the parks have not shared in the wealth, including Yellowstone, where bioprospecting first began.
By next year, however, the park service will implement a new policy requiring bioprospectors to share the proceeds of their discoveries with the agency. Park officials don’t know for certain how much money they stand to receive from the new policy, but it is roughly estimated at between $635,000 and $3.9 million a year.
“This is about the public, which owns places like Yellowstone, getting some kind of benefit if someone has a commercial product based on research which started in the park,” Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash told the Associated Press.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
New Policy to Give National Park Service Share of Profits from Bioprospecting in Parks (by Mead Gruver, Associated Press)
Benefits-Sharing in the National Parks Environmental Impact Statement: What is Bioprospecting? (National Park Service)
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