7 ms·

India blocks Colgate patents for spices

126 points by Garbage 11y ago

jackgavigan 11y ago
Some background on the TKDL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-battle-for-ayurveda-india-is-racing-to-record-the-details-of-its-traditional-medicine-760086.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-battle-for-... Kudos to the Indian government for coming up with an effective way to combat these bogus patents.
boot13 11y ago
Javascript required.
- jhdevos 11y ago
  In firefox: Preferences -> Advanced -> enable "Warn me when websites try to redirect or reload the page". Other browsers will probably have similar options.
  - brobinson 11y ago
    Neat. When was this added?
  - madez 11y ago
    How to activate this on Firefox on Android? Do you know the name of the corresponding entry in about:config?
audunw 11y ago
Imagine all the countless hour of pointless human labor that could be saved if we simply abolished patents. How many man hours has been wasted in these thousands of cases? And for what? How is patenting combination of spices going to increase innovation? But then again I suppose this "solves" the problem that there's not enough productive work to go around. In a 100 years perhaps all human endeavor will be about fighting over imaginary monopolies.
- ateevchopra 11y ago
  `How is patenting combination of spices going to increase innovation` Sometimes its not about innovation. Many companies buy patents and make high priced drugs. These drugs can be made available to the poor for very less price, but patents like these block local makers from doing so. Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-that-matters/Changes-to-Indias-patent-law-will-impact-prices-of-life-saving-drugs/articleshow/32519848.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-tha...
  - primroot 11y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreening
- primroot 11y ago
  "Hitherto [1848] it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being. ... Only when, in addition to just institutions, the increase of mankind shall be under the deliberate guidance of judicious foresight, can the conquests made from the powers of nature by the intellect and energy of scientific discoverers become the common property of the species, and the means of improving and elevating the universal lot." Wrote J.S. Mill. I do not see us getting anywhere near this state of society, certainly not as long we "need" jobs.
- x5n1 11y ago
  Patents and copyright are essentially regulatory capture, they didn't start out that way... but every time they start asking for more and more rights for longer periods of time or argue for rights of corporations rather than individuals who produced the works, they are in the territory of regulatory capture and rent seeking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture and rent seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking
- golergka 11y ago
  > abolished patents > How is patenting combination of spices going to increase innovation? I'm sorry, but you seem to have jumped from "patents" to "patenting combinations of spices" here. I don't think that you did this intentionally, but you replaced the topic in between; first, you formulate your thesis as "we should abolishing patents", and later, you seem to be proving it, but you really only prove a different thesis, "we should abolish patenting combination of spices". Don't you see the difference between these two?
themgt 11y ago
"You know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? - Medicine." - Tim Minchin This quote used to really sum up my opinion, but the more time I've spent growing and eating and researching a variety of plants/herbs/spices, it's quite clear that many of them do have quite a lot of beneficial health effects, often unique in being more effective or having less side-effects than western medicine. Plants have chemical-producing machinery that is in many ways far more advanced than what humans have developed. And many of them have been under-researched, I think both because of 20th century biases and the regulatory/patent environment, so in fact there's quite a gap between what we call medicine and treatments in alternative medicine which could be reasonably considered likely beneficial/effective. Just as an example, go read the Wikipedia pages and some assorted Googled info on what was listed in the article: nutmeg, ginger, “Bakul” tree, camphor, cinnamon, turmeric, Indian banyan, black pepper, long pepper, Neem and clove.
- pinaceae 11y ago
  absolutely. so please, once you have a serious condition only take your spices. no penicilin (or does it count as mold?), no insulin, no aneasthesia for you. just a little cinnamon. wear glasses or contacts? away with them! a little pepper in your eyes works wonders. and they wonder why seattle has lower polio vaccines rates than kazakhstan or tchad.
  - venomsnake 11y ago
    English is not my first language, but I kinda read the OP's post as "Guys, we should throw some money in investigating some natural remedies, using the scientific method and stripping them of bullshit, to see what works, why and how"
- splawn 11y ago
  "artifical" medicine is all about having a specific dosage of the active chemical.. if you are consuming raw herbs then chances are you have no idea what dosage of the active chemical you are taking, which can affect the quality of your treatment. Given the importance of dosage (it can be the difference between medicine and poison) Tim Minchin was 100% correct.
rurounijones 11y ago
OT but this is not the first comment to I don't think I am hijacking. Page loads fine (Actually started reading the article) then goes to http://www.deccanherald.com/enable_javascript.html http://www.deccanherald.com/enable_javascript.html How retro (Plus the fact that the page actually DOES work without JS...)
astazangasta 11y ago
"Dalchini", BTW, is literally "lentil sugar". Put some in your lentils for added yum.
- selimthegrim 11y ago
  This is probably a misspelling for darchini, i.e. cinnamon
  - shrikant 11y ago
    It's not a misspelling: the Hindi word is dalchini, and the Bengali word is darchini.
    - selimthegrim 11y ago
      That's interesting, because my Urdu speaking family in Karachi always says darchini for some reason. cf. http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.3:1:5612.platts http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.p...
  - pritambaral 11y ago
    I've always heard it pronounced as "dalchini", in Hindi and three different regional languages (Bengali, Odia, and Marathi).
    - jalayir 11y ago
      Interesting. We always say "darchini" too.
- ruchi 11y ago
  Native speaker here. Dalchini is the correct Hindi word for cinnamon. Think of it as the English word underdog.
sandGorgon 11y ago
the "prior art" for this is ancient Indian textbooks of medicine - http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/SourceInfo.asp?GL=Eng http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/SourceInfo.as... The TKDL (Traditional Knowledge Digital Library) interface really sucks.. but still has useful info. Ayurveda - http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/Ayurveda/Ayu_Advancesearch.asp?GL=Eng http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/Ayurveda/Ayu_Advancesear... Unani (Islamic Indian medicine) -http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/Unani/Una_Advancesearch.asp?GL=Eng http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/Unani/Una_Advancesearch.... Siddha (South Indian medicine) - http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/siddha/Sid_Advancesearch.asp?GL=Eng http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/siddha/Sid_Advancesearch... Try searching for something like "basil". you get comprehensive formulae for ancient indian recipes, methods of application,etc.

126 points by Garbage 11y ago

Some background on the TKDL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-battle-for-ayurveda-india-is-racing-to-record-the-details-of-its-traditional-medicine-760086.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-battle-for-... Kudos to the Indian government for coming up with an effective way to combat these bogus patents.

boot13 11y ago

Javascript required.

jhdevos 11y ago
In firefox: Preferences -> Advanced -> enable "Warn me when websites try to redirect or reload the page". Other browsers will probably have similar options.
- brobinson 11y ago
  Neat. When was this added?
- madez 11y ago
  How to activate this on Firefox on Android? Do you know the name of the corresponding entry in about:config?

audunw 11y ago

Imagine all the countless hour of pointless human labor that could be saved if we simply abolished patents. How many man hours has been wasted in these thousands of cases? And for what? How is patenting combination of spices going to increase innovation? But then again I suppose this "solves" the problem that there's not enough productive work to go around. In a 100 years perhaps all human endeavor will be about fighting over imaginary monopolies.

ateevchopra 11y ago
`How is patenting combination of spices going to increase innovation` Sometimes its not about innovation. Many companies buy patents and make high priced drugs. These drugs can be made available to the poor for very less price, but patents like these block local makers from doing so. Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-that-matters/Changes-to-Indias-patent-law-will-impact-prices-of-life-saving-drugs/articleshow/32519848.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-tha...
- primroot 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreening
primroot 11y ago
"Hitherto [1848] it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being. ... Only when, in addition to just institutions, the increase of mankind shall be under the deliberate guidance of judicious foresight, can the conquests made from the powers of nature by the intellect and energy of scientific discoverers become the common property of the species, and the means of improving and elevating the universal lot." Wrote J.S. Mill. I do not see us getting anywhere near this state of society, certainly not as long we "need" jobs.
x5n1 11y ago
Patents and copyright are essentially regulatory capture, they didn't start out that way... but every time they start asking for more and more rights for longer periods of time or argue for rights of corporations rather than individuals who produced the works, they are in the territory of regulatory capture and rent seeking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture and rent seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking
golergka 11y ago
> abolished patents > How is patenting combination of spices going to increase innovation? I'm sorry, but you seem to have jumped from "patents" to "patenting combinations of spices" here. I don't think that you did this intentionally, but you replaced the topic in between; first, you formulate your thesis as "we should abolishing patents", and later, you seem to be proving it, but you really only prove a different thesis, "we should abolish patenting combination of spices". Don't you see the difference between these two?

themgt 11y ago

"You know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? - Medicine." - Tim Minchin This quote used to really sum up my opinion, but the more time I've spent growing and eating and researching a variety of plants/herbs/spices, it's quite clear that many of them do have quite a lot of beneficial health effects, often unique in being more effective or having less side-effects than western medicine. Plants have chemical-producing machinery that is in many ways far more advanced than what humans have developed. And many of them have been under-researched, I think both because of 20th century biases and the regulatory/patent environment, so in fact there's quite a gap between what we call medicine and treatments in alternative medicine which could be reasonably considered likely beneficial/effective. Just as an example, go read the Wikipedia pages and some assorted Googled info on what was listed in the article: nutmeg, ginger, “Bakul” tree, camphor, cinnamon, turmeric, Indian banyan, black pepper, long pepper, Neem and clove.

pinaceae 11y ago
absolutely. so please, once you have a serious condition only take your spices. no penicilin (or does it count as mold?), no insulin, no aneasthesia for you. just a little cinnamon. wear glasses or contacts? away with them! a little pepper in your eyes works wonders. and they wonder why seattle has lower polio vaccines rates than kazakhstan or tchad.
- venomsnake 11y ago
  English is not my first language, but I kinda read the OP's post as "Guys, we should throw some money in investigating some natural remedies, using the scientific method and stripping them of bullshit, to see what works, why and how"
splawn 11y ago
"artifical" medicine is all about having a specific dosage of the active chemical.. if you are consuming raw herbs then chances are you have no idea what dosage of the active chemical you are taking, which can affect the quality of your treatment. Given the importance of dosage (it can be the difference between medicine and poison) Tim Minchin was 100% correct.

rurounijones 11y ago

OT but this is not the first comment to I don't think I am hijacking. Page loads fine (Actually started reading the article) then goes to http://www.deccanherald.com/enable_javascript.html http://www.deccanherald.com/enable_javascript.html How retro (Plus the fact that the page actually DOES work without JS...)

astazangasta 11y ago

"Dalchini", BTW, is literally "lentil sugar". Put some in your lentils for added yum.

selimthegrim 11y ago
This is probably a misspelling for darchini, i.e. cinnamon
- shrikant 11y ago
  It's not a misspelling: the Hindi word is dalchini, and the Bengali word is darchini.
  - selimthegrim 11y ago
    That's interesting, because my Urdu speaking family in Karachi always says darchini for some reason. cf. http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.3:1:5612.platts http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.p...
- pritambaral 11y ago
  I've always heard it pronounced as "dalchini", in Hindi and three different regional languages (Bengali, Odia, and Marathi).
  - jalayir 11y ago
    Interesting. We always say "darchini" too.
ruchi 11y ago
Native speaker here. Dalchini is the correct Hindi word for cinnamon. Think of it as the English word underdog.

sandGorgon 11y ago

the "prior art" for this is ancient Indian textbooks of medicine - http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/SourceInfo.asp?GL=Eng http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/SourceInfo.as... The TKDL (Traditional Knowledge Digital Library) interface really sucks.. but still has useful info. Ayurveda - http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/Ayurveda/Ayu_Advancesearch.asp?GL=Eng http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/Ayurveda/Ayu_Advancesear... Unani (Islamic Indian medicine) -http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/Unani/Una_Advancesearch.asp?GL=Eng http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/Unani/Una_Advancesearch.... Siddha (South Indian medicine) - http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/siddha/Sid_Advancesearch.asp?GL=Eng http://tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/siddha/Sid_Advancesearch... Try searching for something like "basil". you get comprehensive formulae for ancient indian recipes, methods of application,etc.