[MPWG] herbal remedies associated with heart drugs

[Isla Burgess]

Thanks to all for this discussion.

Craig Holdrege of the Nature Institute www.natureinstitute.org
<http://www.natureinstitute.org/>  has some interesting papers on the
website. One on The Unintended Effects of Genetic Manipulation is worth
reading.

Nga Mihi,

Isla

 

Isla Burgess

Interim Convenor International Research Group for the Conservation of
Medicinal Plants

Medical Herbalist and Holistic Scientist

Director

International College of Herbal Medicine

18B Sirrah St

Wainui, Gisborne, New Zealand

#6468630048

#6468630046 Fax

www.HerbCollege.com

isla at HerbCollege.com 

www.irgcmp.org <http://www.irgcmp.org/>   

  _____  

From: mpwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org
[mailto:mpwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Gena Fleming
Sent: Thursday, 4 February 2010 5:25 p.m.
To: Jean Giblette
Cc: mpwg at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: Re: [MPWG] herbal remedies associated with heart drugs

 

I'm glad this article has inspired so many comments, which I have enjoyed
reading.  It really is important not to let so much misinformation and
inuendo go unchallenged.  

 

I agree with Jean's comments about perception problems and paradigm shifts.
But I would like to emphasize that the current tide is moving swiftly from
chemical pharmaceuticals that were synthesized from petrochemical byproducts
to the development of transgenic plants to produce drugs.  And this shift
really increases the risks.

 

The chemical synthesis of drugs in the past did not really impede our access
to herbs.  GM medicinal plants do, because their development threatens to
contaminate the ancestral integrity of these important plants.  They also
pose other ecological risks that affect other organisms and soil fertility.


  

Transgenic plants are being engineered to increase "active" compouds,
standardize them,  increase production efficiencies (including cloning),
decrease "undesired" components, or address other industrial preferences.
For example, China is developing a transgenic Jujube with the antisense
gene.
(http://www.cababstractsplus.org/abstracts%5C/Abstract.aspx?AcNo=20043052888
).  The purpose of antisense technology is to delay fruiting, so the onset
of fruiting can be controlled by chemical application.  It's similar to
terminator technology.

  

I think most biomedical physicians, pharmacists, and researchers have good
intent.  They're just doing their job.  The devil is in the system.  

 

In the United States, two events really attached the carrot to the stick;
both occurred in 1980.  1)  The Supreme Court upheld the right to patent
living organisms; 2) the Bayh Dole Act allowed universities operating with
public funds to form partnerships with corporations.

 

So our taxpayer money is paying for research to develop transgenic organisms
which can be patented and owned by multinational pharmaceutical companies or
agribusiness.  Multinational corporations are now funding and directing
university research.  The research  follows the money.  The universities get
a cut of the royalties.  

 

Now, more than ever, it is important to promote not simply the use of
"medicinal plants", but the validity of indigenous knowledge. Indigenous
science offers a more complex, integrative, contemplative worldview that
attempts to cooperate rather than conquer Nature.  It is not simply the
therapeutic modalities and substances of these traditional systems which
need to be adopted.  It is necessary to have a pluralistic medical society,
even a pluralistic scientific society, with more appropriate, integrative
research methodologies, and research funded for the public good, not private
enterprise.

 

In such a world, it should be inconceivable that life could ever be owned by
a corporation.

 

best regards,

 

Gena


-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and 
dangerous content by  <http://www.mailscanner.info/> MailScanner, and is 
believed to be clean. 


-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20100205/5ceb72f7/attachment.html>