The Shaman tribe of the Amazon rainforest have sought to revoke a patent granted to businessperson from the us on their most sacred plant, a vine called ayauasca , which has medicinal and ceremonial qualities. The tribe uses ayuhuasca to make a potent hallucinogenic brew for religious rituals. "The vine has power to heal our sick, meet with spirits and predict the future,' wrote the leader of the tribe, Antonio Jacanamijoy, in a petition to cancel the patent granted in 1986 to Lorren Miller.

Coica, the umbrella organisation of the tribes in the Amazon basin that Jacanamijoy heads, has been protesting against the patent ever since a Canadian environmental organisation discovered its existence in 1995. Such a step has been taken for the first time by a indigenous group. Although Miller's International Plant Medicine Cooperation, which looks at the pharmaceutical and cosmetic potential of plants, has not actually marketed any ayahuasca product based on the patent, the case has raised several ethical and moral questions. David Downes, an attorney, said, "Cancelling the patent would set a precedent that future patent applicants cannot take knowledge of indigenous people and claim them as their own', he said.