WYOMING, MONTANA
Groups sue over
microbes
Three environmental organizations are
suing the National Park Service over plans to allow private
“bioprospecting” in Yellowstone National
Park.
Charging that the park has conducted
“closed-door dealing with a part of our national heritage,” the
Edmonds Institute of Edmonds, Wash., the Center for Technology
Assessment in Washington, D.C., and the Montana-based Alliance for
the Wild Rockies are demanding full disclosure of Yellowstone’s
arrangements with a private
corporation.
Heat-resistant microorganisms from
Yellowstone’s hot springs – such as Thermus aquaticus, which
produces an enzyme used in DNA fingerprinting – have made millions
for private corporations. Now, the park wants to cash in. In
August, the park signed a contract with the San Diego-based Diversa
Corp., allowing it to collect microorganisms in exchange for
$175,000 and an undisclosed share of future profits (HCN, 9/29/97).
Yellowstone has since signed a $200,000 contract with a private
consultant to help broker more deals.
“They’ve
deeply violated the public trust,” says Beth Burrows of the Edmonds
Institute. “These arrangements should have been made in full
sunlight with as much public participation as possible.”
Michael Scott of the Greater Yellowstone
Coalition in Bozeman, Mont., says bioprospecting contracts are a
potential conflict of interest for the park, with Yellowstone
standing to gain a great deal of money by backing off from its
mandate to protect the park’s
resources.
Yellowstone spokeswoman Marsha Karle
says the fee paid by Diversa is voluntary, and that Diversa and the
park have a legal right to keep the specifics of the deal under
wraps.
“We’re still handling the research in the
park as we always have,” she says. “The only difference is that now
we’re getting a return. Don’t they think that’s a good thing?”
* Michelle
Nijhuis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Groups sue over microbes.
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