Legal complications in bid to reclaim specimens of fungi

The scientist who collected the 200 strains of fungi from Thai shores, now being kept at a British university, was working for the university at the time.

This fact, coupled with the lack of a record of transfer, have complicated an attempt by the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotec) to reclaim them.

Prof Gareth Jones was working in Thailand in 1993 under the auspices of the University of Portsmouth. He had joined other scientists in a mission to identify a fungus with medical potential.

Prof Jones later sent the specimens to Portsmouth for storage because Thailand at the time lacked such facilities, which was also the reason why no record of transfer was kept.

At a press conference yesterday, Biotec director Sakarind Bhumirattana vowed he would make every effort to bring back the specimens because they were considered Thailand's property.

Mr Sakarind conceded that Biotec lacked a legal stand to win the demand for the specimens to be returned, having failed in negotiation with the university in the past eight months.

"Biotec intends to win their return even if we have to take the issue up to the highest governmental level," he said.

Mr Sakarind expressed dismay at the university's lack of professional ethics, claiming that the transfer of the fungi was made based on trust.

"This is a question of ethics, not who got it first," he said.

He pointed out that there had been several instances in which many artifacts or bio-resources were taken out of Thailand without the authorities' knowledge. But they were eventually returned for ethical reasons.

However, Portsmouth is equally adamant in refusing to return the fungi.

In an August 10 letter to Biotec, the university claimed full ownership of the specimens because it said they were collected by its own staff.

In an interview with the London-based Independent newspaper recently, a university spokesman said the fungi were being properly looked after in the university's laboratories until ownership is resolved.

"We are not in a position to give them back to the Thai government because they are not ours to give. They could belong to the company we had the contract with," the newspaper quoted Portsmouth's spokesman as saying.