Brazil’s Indians take path toward medicinal patents

The poison on an arrow that paralyses a wild beast in the jungle and a pill that can relax our tense muscles have something in common — they both come from the curare plant discovered by Brazilian Indians. Now, the indigenous people of Brazil want this type of link between primitive hunting trick and modern pharmaceutical technology to be recognised as a property right that could bring much-needed cash to needy tribes, some of them on the brink of extinction