National Research Council in Brazil (CNPq) - Oswaldo Cruz FoundationThe controversy over intellectual property rights in biotechnology between the USA and Brazil is discussed. The pressures applied by the USA seem justified only from a strictly commercial viewpoint. The harmonizing of IPR rules does not allow any distinction between developing and developed coutries, which may jeopardize the development of local capacity in coutries like Brazil. It seems that the current trends will be detrimental to Latin American coutries and they can project increasing difficulties in accessing scientific and technological information