Patente do Óleo de Copaíba: Uma análise discursiva da biopirataria.

Abstract

This study examines the case of the patenting of copaiba by France, using Dialogic Discourse Analysis and the concept of alterity (cf. Bakhtin) to explore the role of the presence of the "other" in the biopiracy debate. Biopiracy is defined here as the improper appropriation of biodiversity and traditional knowledge, used for commercial purposes, especially in cosmetics and medicine. Based on concepts from the Bakhtin Circle and the idea that the sign is "a material part of that same reality" (Volóshinov, 2018, p. 94), the study analyzes the patent application submitted by France in 1993 for cosmetics and food products containing copaiba, a tree native to Latin America and West Africa. The resin oil extracted from this tree, widely used by indigenous peoples, has medicinal and cosmetic properties (Veiga Junior; Pinto, 2002), but traditional knowledge about it is not considered scientific and, therefore, lacks recognition for patent protection. This case illustrates how biopiracy reflects a colonial perspective that marginalizes indigenous knowledge, viewed as unreliable and excluded from legitimate knowledge production (Shiva, 2001; Picq, 2017), leading to cultural and intellectual impoverishment.