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The US gave three reasons for not signing the Biodiversity Convention.
It objected to the language on the patenting of products made from natural
biological resources, such as plant chemicals. The convention does not impose
limits on patenting, but it suggests that patents are a constraint on the
transfer of new technologies to developing countries. The US believes that
the patent system, by giving an incentive for Western companies to invest
in these products, is a ‘prerequisite’ for technology transfer.

Like Britain, the US also believes that the article on funding of conservation
projects in the Third World does not give donors of aid enough control of
the purse strings. And it fears that safety rules to control the export
of the products of genetic engineering would damage US companies.

An official US source, quoted in the summit newspaper, also cited scientific
uncertainty about the loss of biodiversity as a reason for not signing.
These uncertainties ‘related to such fundamental issues as numbers of species
and rates of extinction’, and meant that ‘there was little justification
for concluding a strong treaty’.

In an effort to head off criticism of his stance on biodiversity, George
Bush’s staff said on Monday that the President planned to launch a new initiative
on forests in his speech to the summit next week. The plan would spend
$150 million a year on planting new forests in the Third World.