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West Bengal notice to pharma units on bio-resource use

Kolkata: The state government would now force bengal's 400 pharmaceutical companies to obtain proper permission and share the benefit of the natural resources they access for the pharmaceutical products. As per the provisions of the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the commercial users of biological resources have to share benefits arising out of such uses with the state biodiversity board (SBB).


The commercial users like manufacturers of biological resource-based drugs, industrial enzymes, food flavours, fragrances, cosmetic emulsifiers, oleoresins, colour extrats and traders of biological resources used for manufacturing of above products, now must share a percentage of the profit revenue with SBB and the ABS amount must be utilised for conservation and promotion of biological resources, said environment minister Manas Bhunia.

Each of these 400 players must inform the SBB what biological resources and traditional knowledge it intended to access for commercial utilization. Whoever contravenes the provision of the act will face a 3-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh. "We have served notices on these companies. Of these 400 entities, 24 have complied with the ABS provision of this act. Others must fall in line," said Bhunia.

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