Dragon's blood latex has been used since ancient times by indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin because of its anti-inflammatory and cicatrizing properties. It´s obtained from a variety of species of an Amazonian tree called Croton lechleri.
In 1991 the pharmaceutical company called Shaman Pharmaceuticals Inc. came to the province of Pastaza (located in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon) with the intention of carrying out ethno-botanic research about dragon's blood. However, the final objective was to exploit the dragon's blood tree and obtain some active ingredient that would be patented and commercialized later on. Indigenous communities and peoples who collaborated would be offered a compensation, but, after initial negotiations, due to the past negative experiences regarding patenting and bio-prospecting activities Ecuadorian indigenous organizations refused to participate. They were driven by an opinion that the knowledge needs to remain shared by all indigenous people of the Amazon basin and therefore could not be patented by any company. As a result, the company sought the support from the communities that were not affiliated with the main indigenous organizations in order to begin with the planned activities, which triggered a conflict between the company and the indigenous organizations. There were 300 000 potentially affected people, the indigenous inhabitants.
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