Mexican origin, US patent: the controversial history of the Christmas Eve flower

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1. The theme to be highlighted: The Christmas flower

Behind the quintessential Christmas plant is a story of appropriation at a time of dubious patent practices: Here's how the native Mexican Christmas flower ended up being largely produced in the United States as a poinsettia

Why It Matters

: Blooming for only a couple of weeks in November and December, the plant is one of the best-selling flowers around the world.

In the US alone, it represented earnings of $153 million in 2020.

• It is native to Mexico, but because most varieties have the floral equivalent of intellectual property registrations in the names of US growers — and because those registrations are valid internationally — many Mexican growers have to pay to grow and grow sell it.

The Story

: The Aztecs called the plant

in Nahuatl, which translates to something like "leather flower."

They used it for medicinal purposes, to obtain pigments and in rituals.

• It wasn't until Spanish colonizers arrived in Mexico in the 16th century that the plant began to be linked to Christmas.

• They used what they called “flor de Nochebuena” to decorate the Catholic churches that they built and the Christmas nativity scenes that they began to place as part of their evangelization.

In 1825, four years after Mexico

gained independence, diplomat Joel Robert Poinsett (who was a practicing botanist) was appointed as the first United States ambassador.

• After admiring the plant while in Mexico, Poinsett sent samples to friends.

  This was before the US had regulations on importing plants and in an era when historians denounce the practice of brain hacking.

• A sample of the "Poinsett plant" found its way to a Philadelphia botanical garden, which exhibited it for the first time in the country in 1829. From there it spread throughout the United States and Europe with names alluding to Poinsett, eventually being called

  poinsettia.

The Ecke family became one of the main propagators of the plant in the US.

They patented several varieties after the law that allowed it was passed in 1930, and they were massively marketed, at times as the “California Christmas flower”.

Poinsettia flower, also called poinsettia, Easter flower or Inca crown.Daniel Cárdenas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

• Many of those patents are still valid today.

  And they have global protections through the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, which governs how certain plants can be grown, sold, modified or exported.

  That puts Mexican farmers at a disadvantage.

Beyond

: Mexican researchers are working to develop new varieties that are not subject to tariffs or royalties for US farmers.

• So far, they have registered seven with the Mexican regulatory service, a first step to obtain international protection.

2. The long entanglement that has brought Peru to the limit

The political crisis in Peru, culminating last week with the removal of Pedro Castillo as president after trying to dissolve Congress, will not be resolved soon because the problems that led to that clash of powers have existed for many years, according to an expert. to Axios Latino.

Big picture

: At least seven people have been killed in the past week in protests against Dina Boluarte, who was appointed as president following the line of succession.

• Protesters are calling for his immediate resignation and presidential elections.

  Many also demand electoral reforms because they believe that the political system is not fully representative.

• In an attempt to appease the protesters, Boluarte said that he will try to agree with Congress that there be early elections in April 2024, two years before the scheduled vote.

Yes, but

: Boluarte faces a difficult situation to stay in office, according to analysts.

The last six years have been marked by a constant succession at the head of the presidency.

Neither the announcement of early elections nor the state of emergency calm the protests in Peru

Dec 12, 202201:56

• This is due to strong public discontent with Congress and with whoever is president, and the cracks in the executive and legislative branches, says political scientist Paula Távara Pineda to Axios Latino.

• Even if the country holds elections in 2024, the protests are likely to continue because protesters don't want to wait, says Távara Pineda.

  Without reforms, the friction between Congress and the presidency will not be resolved either, argues the analyst.

In his own words

: "The political parties and the parliamentary benches are very distant from the interest of the population today... they have legislated on issues that interest them and in the way that is convenient for them and for nothing in terms of the country's real concerns or issues of interest," says political scientist Távara Pineda.

• "The same has happened with the Executive. It has governed so dedicated to survival [before vacancy processes] that it has not executed policies and programs that are necessary after a pandemic with an economic crisis," he adds.

Quick summary:

The sour relationship between the Executive and the Legislative is partly due to the fact that both have mutual destruction buttons:

Castillo supporters in ArequipaDiego Ramos/AFP via Getty Images

• Congress can vote to remove a president if it believes he has "moral incapacity" (an opaque term that has led to "vacancies being almost normalized," says Távara Pineda).

• The president can dissolve Congress if it denies support to two cabinets (three presidents, including Castillo, have attempted to do so in recent history, although the confidence vote condition was not always met).

• Peru has had six presidents since 2016 alone, despite the fact that the presidential term lasts five years.

• Before Boluarte, the presidents were: Pedro Castillo (removed after trying to have a mandate "by decree");

  Fracnsci Sagasti (interim leader for nine months);

  Manuel Merino (led to resign due to protests);

  Martín Vizcarra (removed by Congress);

  Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (led to resign to avoid being removed by Congress);

  Ollanta Humala (imprisoned after leaving power on corruption charges);

  Alan García (indicted for corruption, after which he committed suicide);

  Alejandro Toledo (accused of money laundering), and Alberto Fujimori (in prison for crimes against humanity and corruption).

The stat

: Castillo now faces possible criminal charges for rebellion due to his announcement of dissolution of Congress and "reorganization" of the judiciary.

• In addition, he was already facing a corruption charge, accused of leading a bribery scheme in exchange for public contracts.

  Since he lost his political status this week, that criminal case is likely to move forward as well.

• Although it has received international support.

  The presidents of Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia and Mexico still called him president in a joint statement on Monday, and this Tuesday the Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that his country will continue to recognize Castillo as president instead of Boluarte.

 3. Mistrust and clinical trials

A majority of black and Latino people in the United States consider medical trials and clinical research to be of the utmost importance ... but less so than other demographic groups, indicating strong mistrust, according to new data from the Pew Research Center .

Why it matters

: There is a considerable lack of demographic diversity in clinical trials in the United States, where participants are predominantly non-Hispanic white.

• Thus, in the development of new treatments, it is not always verified whether they are also effective for Latino, indigenous, Asian or black people, not even in diseases such as Alzheimer's that disproportionately affect Hispanics.

• The forms of recruitment are part of the problem, but also the suspicion of potential participants, who remain suspicious due to past abuses (such as when black people with syphilis were told they were going to be treated in a trial clinician between the 1930s and 1970s... and then they were given nothing).

In numbers:

59% of Hispanics surveyed by the Pew Research Center and 58% of non-Hispanic blacks surveyed said it is critical to conduct clinical trials before bringing treatments to market.

Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios

• Those numbers were strongest among non-Hispanic whites (67%) and people of Asian descent (66%).

• Hispanics surveyed in another Pew analysis overwhelmingly said they trust scientists to seek social welfare.

  But they also said more frequently that they believe researcher misconduct continues.

Beyond:

Researchers have attempted in recent years to remedy trial disparities with new recruitment mechanisms or by proposing that a minimum percentage of diversity be met in order to gain regulatory approval.

• Various academic analyzes have shown that acknowledging past abuse, having a more diverse medical team, and making sure materials like consent forms are free of snarly language are also key steps toward more Black and Latino participation.

4. The benefits of climate technology

As the demand for greener technologies grows, strategies are being developed to reduce the disproportionate impact on certain communities from the effects of the climate emergency.

US scientists develop new clean and low-cost energy through the Sun

Dec 12, 202200:28

Big Picture

: Black and Latino communities in the US are disproportionately vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, especially as extreme heat waves or flooding hit low-income neighborhoods the hardest.

• But strategies to reduce those impacts haven't always been equitably implemented (for example, a gray pavement that helps cool temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona, hasn't been installed citywide yet).

News Push:

Several of the new companies developing more sustainable technologies have racially and ethnically diverse people on their boards, who say they are looking for improvements that recognize demographic diversity.

• The Upside Tech Alliance, an initiative of start-up companies, seeks to collaborate with local governments to reduce emissions and alleviate the impact of global warming through mechanisms such as installing green energy (such as solar) in low-cost housing, thus allowing residents to have remissions or green credits when paying for services such as electricity.

Bottom line:

Harnessing public investment for the public good can provide solutions that do serve the people most affected, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Promise (one of the companies that formed the Upside Tech Alliance) told Axios reporter Ayurella Horn-Muller.

5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean

1. Colombia and its last guerrilla group

, the National Liberation Army, concluded their first round of peace negotiations this week.

Pablo Beltrán of the ELN (left) and members of the government delegation Otty Patiño (center) and Iván CepedaFederico Parra/AFP via Getty Images

• They promised to carry out humanitarian aid programs in parts of Chocó and Valle del Cauca, two of the departments most affected by fighting.

• They also invited the United States, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden to join Norway, Cuba and Venezuela as guarantor countries of the dialogue.

  The second round of talks will take place from January in Mexico.

2. Chilean lawmakers on Tuesday finalized a new

for the special council that will draw up a new magna carta, three months after another constitution proposal was rejected in a plebiscite.

• The new constitutional convention will have 50 members chosen by voters and 24 experts chosen by Congress.

  The last convention was made up mostly of independent personalities chosen in a special election.

6. The art of mole

 The mole in Oaxaca is no longer just a dish or a sauce: there are artists who use it to create murals in the capital of the Mexican state.

Enmolarte: an artistic and culinary journey into the traditions of Oaxaca

Nov 5, 202201:40

Details

: The Enmolarte project fuses types of local mole with other dyes to make a painting that is similar to oil.

• Artist Julián Hernández says it is a way to honor tradition while giving the mole a new community use.

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