biopiracy means the appropriation of indigenous biomedical knowledge, especially by patenting naturally occurring substances. It carries an Arena rating of 1371, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, biopiracy ranks #11 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #2,671 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,084 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #4,654 of 17,163 for Funniest Words.
Why “biopiracy” is a great word
The unethical appropriation, typically by corporations or researchers, of indigenous peoples' biomedical knowledge or naturally occurring genetic resources, often to secure patents without consent or compensation. Formed within English by compounding the combining form bio- ("life, living organisms") and the noun piracy ("the act of plundering or illicit appropriation"), coined in the early 1990s by Canadian environmentalist Pat Roy Mooney. Unlike "bioprospecting" (which can imply a legal, negotiated search) or "patent infringement" (a breach of existing legal title), biopiracy describes the original act of theft that creates the illegitimate title. It is the laboratory isolating a gene from a community's staple crop, the legal patent filed without acknowledging generations of Ayurvedic practice, the seed variety saved for millennia suddenly declared corporate property—the violent enclosure of the commons of life itself, transforming guardians into trespassers on their own heritage.
Etymology
From bio- + piracy, coined by Canadian environmentalist Pat Roy Mooney in the early 1990s.
noun
- The appropriation of indigenous biomedical knowledge, especially by patenting naturally occurring substances.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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