STOP COLGATE FROM BIOPIRACY OF TRADITIONAL INDIAN TOOTHPASTE

Colgate, the popular toothpaste company, is attempting to commit biopiracy of a traditional Indian toothpaste.  This has so many unjust implications.  No company should be able to patent recipes that have been around for hundreds of years. India's folk medicines belong to India, not one company who has decided to make massive profits from a recipe that is not even one they have created. 

This is not a new issue, and has prompted seventeen countries to come together and create 'Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries'.  These include India, China, Indonesia, South Africa, and many other concerned countries.  This group has been created to promote these countries' interests "regarding biological diversity, and in particular the protection of traditional knowledge, access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their use."

The reason that Colgate has suddenly become such a threat is because the company is claiming that it has one different ingredient from the traditional Indian toothpaste, known as red iron oxide.  However, red iron oxide is just a pigment and does not enhance the toothpaste in any shape or form.  Basically Colgate is trying to use this as a legal loophole in being allowed to patent this recipe, and it should know that it cannot get away with trying to patent traditional medicines of another country.

So by signing this petition, I want to send a message to Colgate that I am against their underhanded means of obtaining patents of traditional medicines, and that if the company continues to pursue this, I will boycott Colgate and all its products.