ABSTRACT
In this article, the intersection between genomics, bioprospecting, and the “genetic ancestry” of a low-level mixture of “founding populations” is discussed. By historicizing the materiality of Quinoa (chenopodium sp.) and Ayahuasca, plants (banisteriopsis caapi sp.) nurtured by native peoples of the Andes and the Amazon area for millennia, it critiques the too often tilted and exclusionary practices behind genomics, bioprospecting, property rights regimes, and patenting. It is suggested that the scientific community at large, should work responsibly at implementing transparency on critical issues, thereby assisting in better informing impacted Indigenous Peoples about their rights to litigate, consent, grant, or become beneficiaries of practices concerning bioethics, conservation, reproduction, and biodiversity’s regeneration.
