Indigenous Food Systems Network

The purpose of this article is to provide, to tribes faced with an era of genetic research, some guidance about how to establish strong protections over their genetic material and Indigenous knowledge. The first section will discuss why genetic material should be protected as cultural property and will briefly examine why tribes need to be concerned about research involving genetic material and Indigenous knowledge, with a particular focus on human genetic research. The second section will examine a variety of examples of human genetic research on Indigenous peoples. Next, this article will evaluate the power of tribes to pass laws that would regulate the conduct of non-Indian researchers. The fourth section will present several tribal laws governing protection of cultural property and *30 examine the extent of the protection that they assert over genetic material and Indigenous knowledge, as well as their regulation of research. The fifth section will offer a model tribal law-- the Indigenous Research Protection Act
-and explain how key provisions help tribes to regulate research. Finally, this article will briefly address important issues raised by genetic research that tribes will inevitably be faced with making decisions about, such as the patenting of life forms and commodification of genetic material and Indigenous knowledge.