MEDICINAL PLANTS AND PATENTS BY PROFESSOR G. L. CHAVUNDUKA

MEDICINAL PLANTS AND PATENTS BY PROFESSOR G. L. CHAVUNDUKA
PRESIDENT: ZIMBABWE NATIONAL TRADITIONAL HEALERS ASSOCIATION (ZINATHA)

More than 500 different types of plants are used for medicinal purposes in Zimbabwe. These traditional medicines are used by many people every day. About 80% of the people in the country use these plant medicines at some stage of their illness. This consumption of indigenous medicine is likely to remain at current levels in the future largely because there is a wide range of illnesses and needs which cannot be adequately treated by western medicine. Plant medicine is infact a basic consumer good essential for the welfare of most African households. The supply of plant products is not only critical for the welfare of millions of people who use them but also critical for the welfare of people employed in this sector. There are about 50,000 registered traditional health practitioners in Zimbabwe. They derive their income from harvesting, preparation and the sale of medicinal plants, and they also attend to patients. Besides the 50,000 professional healers, there are also hundreds of traders who derive much of their income from selling indigenous medicinal plants at the various urban markets. The medicinal plant industry, therefore, plays a critical role in empowering large numbers of people. The traditional health sector is an important segment of the Zimbabwean society in another way. It is estimated that around 4,000 tons of plant material with a value of Z$150m is used annually for medical purposes.

But the country is slowly losing some of these valuable medicinal plants and medical knowledge. Besides the destruction of forests our traditional healers have been victims of exploitation of their knowledge and medicines since the beginning of this century. Exploitation of the knowledge and medicines of traditional healers takes various forms. Many academics interview traditional healers and publish the results of such interviews without acknowledging the source of much of the information. Some modern medical scientists also interview and even observe traditional healers at work and then pass on the results of their investigations to established pharmaceutical companies. Traditional healers are also aware that many agents of foreign governments, pharmaceutical companies and research organizations have been coming into the country to collect specimens from traditional healers which they screen for specified biological activity at home then isolate active compounds and apply for patents for these active compounds. Traditional healers do not receive any form of compensation although a few tradition healers are known to have agreed to sell off their knowledge and resources for a few hundred dollars. Thus, many medical scientists here and abroad seek access to our traditional knowledge for the primary purpose of developing more profitable products. Once healers share this information, they lose control over that knowledge. Moreover, if the material is eventually patented, access to this material can be legally restricted by monopoly patents.

The long-term consequences of the present trend are clear, as listed below:
a.)Thousands of traditional healers will loose their major source of income, they will become unemployed,
b.)Many medicinal plant traders will be squeezed out to this indigenous market,
c.)Many households will loose access to their basic consumer good,
d.)Bio diversity and health care will be negatively impacted,
e.)The declining supply of indigenous medicinal plants will generate significant economic losses to the country.
Obtaining patents for our inventions appears to be a step in the right direction. With respect to plants, the following parts used in traditional medicine: roots, leaves, bark, whole plant, tuber, fruits, bulb, seeds, latex, stem, fiber, rhizome, twigs, pod, flowers, sap, wood, cob, grain and branches. ZINATHA decided to try and isolate pure compounds from some of these plant medicines and have the compound, where possible, patented. This involves extraction and purification of active agents from some of these medicinal plants. A number of pure compounds from some of our medicinal plants have already been isolated. We have obtained a patent for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. We will, in the near future, conduct formal clinical trials in order to understand the full medicinal value of the compound. It is our hope that if the results are encouraging, commercialization of the drug will begin. This has been our first attempt. There were a number of issues to be discussed and resolved before proceeding to the patenting stage. Firstly, it was decided that the process leading to the patenting of a particular compound from the field of traditional medicine should be the responsibility of ZINATHA in collaboration with other bodies, if necessary, rather than that of an individual healer. There are two main reasons for this. One important reason is that a substantial majority of plant medicines used by one healer are also used, often for the same purposes, by another healer. Where this was the case, it was felt that all traditional health practitioners have a right collectively, through their organization, to benefit from their traditions and genius. The question of how the potential income arising from such discoveries might be distributed is, in this case, largely resolved by making the Association, the beneficiary or one of the main beneficiaries of the invention. In the event of any conflicts, the Association is the obvious imbalance of the financial power and legal expertise that would arise between a single traditional healer and interested multinational corporations. Apart from huge amounts of money required for the necessary research and legal fees, a single healer would have to negotiate alone with a number of specialists and institutions would be riddled with loopholes, legal and technical jargon aimed at weakening the position of the healer further. There are no effective mechanisms in place to ensure fair and equitable sharing of the benefits.

The process leading to patenting has been expensive and complex. ZINATHA could not do it alone and needed assistance. The Association needed laboratories where the various tests could be carried out. Extraction and purification of active agents were carried out at the University of Zimbabwe. Screening was done at the National Cancer Institute in the USA, through the provisions of an agreement between ZINATHA and the Institute. ZINATHA and the University of Zimbabwe will be the main beneficiaries of the invention if the project is successful.
There are many plant medicines that will be difficult to fit into the patent option that I have described. Many traditional remedies are complex; several plants might be cooked with various portions of animals, birds, fish, snakes and insects. Another problem is that mixtures used by traditional healers are not always intended to eliminate the symptoms alone. Some of the ingredients are intended to suppress the toxic effects of the other drugs. This enables the body to with stand the aggressive nature of the drugs. Furthermore, some poisonous plants are used as medicine. Traditional healers are aware of toxicity. They know which plants are poisonous and which ones are not. They also know that some plants may be toxic at one stage of their growth and comparatively innocuous at another stage. Some poisonous plants become good medicines at some stages of their growth, or during certain seasons of the year. It also appears to us that a drug developed from a compound of a particular medicinal plant may not, in certain cases, be as effective as using the whole root, leaves, or bark of the original plant. Therefore, natural medicines should continue to have a place in health care.

Paper read at: National Workshop on the Development of Sui-Generis Legislation on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) - Patents for Zimbabwe, Kadoma Ranch Motel Conference Centre, 6-10 September, 1998

At this point, the Manila Declaration concerning the Ethical Utilization of Asian biological Resources (Appendix 3.3) developed at the Seventh Asian Symposium on Medicinal Plants and Species and other Natural Products (ASOMPS VII) held in Manila in 1992, deserve special mention. The declaration incorporates a suggested code of ethics for foreign plant collectors and proposed set of contract guidelines for use by source countries in agreement with appropriate source country organizations as opposed to individuals of the country, and the contract guidelines suggest minimum standards related to, for example sample size, sale of extracts, royalty shares, and exclusivity limits (Baker et al., 1995).

*The amount of material collected for initial screening should not normally exceed 100-150g (dry weight) unless specific permission is obtained.

*Payment should include all handling expenses.

*Where screening is carried out with the aid of a partner organization, for example,National Cancer Institute, USA, in the developed world, a minimum of 60% of any income arising from the supply of extracts to commercial organizations should be returned to the appropriate country organization, such as ZINATHA.

* The country organization should receive a minimum of 51% of any royalties arising from external collaboration that result in marketable products. As fair royalties are normally 3-5% the national organization would expect to receive a minimum royalty of 1.5-2.5%

*The country organization should not sign any agreement that gives indefinite exclusive rights to any external party. Exclusivity should be limited to no more than two-year periods.

*Complete evaluation results should be reported to the supplying country within 6-9 months.

*If there is a threat of destructive harvesting, costs of sustainable harvesting or development of alternative supplies must be borne by the external organization.

*The contribution of research participants should be recognized through co-authorship of publications.
* Where possible, screening of extracts should be carried out it the country of origin and assistance should be provided to develop this expertise wherever possible.
*Agreement on patents should be reached between different parties.

Such a contract is a more effective device as laws lack extra-territorial effect. On the other hand, a breach is usually enforceable as countries provide for reciprocal enforcement. In respect of those countries where no such mutually enforceable mechanisms exist, the legal provisions require the licenses to deposit a sum sufficient to cover any potential damages for non-compliance. Additionally, or in lieu of this deposit, the licensee may be required to obtain an agreement from his or her government to indemnify the country whose resources is sought for any loss arising from a breach of the agreement.

Ultimately, it will be necessary to set up a multilateral regime that can then oversee and enforce obligations undertaken.

In conclusion, it is quite clear that until recently, the prevailing attitude in developed nations regarded the world's genetic resources, which are mainly concentrated in the developed world, as a common resource of human kind, to be exploited freely irrespective of national origin. With the devastation being wreaked in the tropical forests the resurgence in interest in recent years in the discovery of novel drugs from natural sources, particularly plants, the Zimbabwean scientific community has realized that the conservation of the Zimbabwean genetic resources and the indigenous knowledge associated with their use are of primary importance if their potential is to be fully explored. With this realization has come a recognition that these goals must be achieved through collaboration with, and fair and equitable compensation of, the Zimbabwean scientist, traditional healer and the communities.

Appendix 3.1

TRIPS - Trade-Related Intellectual Property

Every country should have minimum standard form of Intellectual Property. TRIPS as agreed by most countries lays down basic principles, specific rules for various rights, and rules on enforcement of rights, on maintaining rights, and on transitional arrangements.

The guiding principles

*All member countries must treat nationals or other member countries as they treat their own, without any discrimination.
* Intellectual Property should contribute to innovation, to transfer of technology, to social and economic welfare and to a balance of rights and obligations.

Patents

*Inventions in all fields of technology, except:
- methods for curing humans and animals
- plants and animals, and essentially biological processes for producing them - micro organisms and microbiological processes
- plants varieties, must be protected by patents

An effective sui generis system can be used to protect some plant varieties.

Patent Rights
Minimum rights for patentees are laid down in the Zimbabwean law, Patent Act of 1971 [Chapter 26:03] Revised Edition 1996. The Act stipulates three criteria for patentability. These are novelty, an inventive step and industrial application. It excludes from patentability animal plant variety.
For process patents, the burden of proof must be shifted to accised infringers in at least one of two cases:
*If the product of the process is new or
*If the owner of the patent cannot show what process was actually used, but it is likely that the patent process was used.

Patent Enforcement
Detailed provisions are intended to make it easier to enforce IP rights. Remedies must include damages and injunctions against further infringement, including interim injunctions to preserve the patentee's rights until trial. However, criminal penalties are only required for serious trademark of copyright counterfeiting.

Transitional Arrangement

Equal treatment comes into effect everywhere on signing. Other provisions must be introduced within 1 year, except for developing countries (5 years). Developing countries like Zimbabwe may also delay the extension of patent rights to new areas of technology for a further 5 years. Least developed countries need not change their laws for 10 years and may seek further extensions, if required.

Independently of the foregoing, the patentability of plants and animals to be reviewed 4 years after the agreement comes into force.

Parties are required to provide incentives for transfer of technology to least-developed countries and to provide (when requested and on agreed terms) technical financial co-operation to developing countries on IP matters.

Patents on Plants

Preamble

Intellectual Property Rights are justified, in part, as human right and in part as a contract or bargain with the public. The originator gives to the public something new that it would not otherwise have had. This could, for example, be a process to produce highly active products from Phytolacca dodecandra. In return, the public gives to the originator limited rights n the "new thing" for a limited period. The originator is rewarded by exploiting these rights in person, or allowing others to exploit them for a fee.

The reward is always self-regulating, if for example the price is set too high or the public is simply not interested in the invention.

For the system to work the following assumptions have to be made:
* A market economy,
* Appropriate scope and term of rights awarded, and
* Careful fulfillment of the conditions imposed on grant.
Many countries in the developed world are now granting patents on life forms and on constituents of life forms, such as DNA sequences and cell lines.
A patent is only granted when the invention is new. The originator must be inventive and be in a position to describe to others how to make use of his/her invention. A patent must enhance what people have always been doing and is granted for an invention and not discovery. The distinction must be made.
* A discovery is new knowledge
* An invention is new process or product.

This distinction is important to keep in mind when considering how genes may be patented. The sequence of a gene is a discovery, pure and simple. It is knowledge about something that already exists. However, it may enable new things to be produced, and these may in principle be patented.

Genes

These are the fundamental physical and functional unit of heredity; the portion of a DNA molecule that is made up of an ordered sequence of nucleotide based pairs that produce a specific product or have an assigned function. They cannot be patented. They already exist and are therefore not new. They can only be discovered and not invented. What is patented is not the gene as such but the gene isolated from its natural surroundings and products containing this isolated gene. Gene inventions of this sort will be patented under TRIPS.

Plant Cells

These will also be patented under TRIPS if the new plant cells contain transformed DNA. Patents on plants are granted, provided they do not meet the Union of the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) criteria for varieties. TRIPS does not require patents on plants, provided plants varieties can be protected by "sui generis system" for example UPOV. Zimbabwe is currently looking into the development of sui generis legislation.
The European Patent Convention provides that "essentially biological processes" and their products are not patentable. "Microbiological Processes" (and their products) however, are patentable. Plants obtained by conventional breeding are not patentable, but plants modified by gene technology are.

In the United States, there is no bar on patenting plants in any form, or breeding processes. In consequence, patents are granted on plant varieties produced by conventional breeding.

The Manila Declaration

Developed at the Seventh Asian Symposium on Medicinal Plants and Spice, and other Natural Products (ASOMPS VII) which was held in Manila, Philippines from February 2 - 7, 1992 and was attended by 280 scientists from 37 countries.

Given that:
* The Maintenance of biological and cultural diversity is global concern,
* Developing countries are major centres of biological and cultural diversity,
* There is increased interest in biological material with medicinal and other economic values,
* Indigenous peoples frequently possess knowledge that provides a key to natural products of economic value.

Recognizing that:
* All national governments have sovereignty over their biological resources,
* Current practices of exploitation of biological resources and indigenous knowledge are frequently inequitable, favoring technologically advanced organizations often based in developed countries, to the disadvantage of both conservation and development in the country of origin,

* Their is need for further investment in training and technology in developing countries and for equitable partnerships with countries in order to obtain new products from biological material.

* There has been insufficient acknowledgement of the essential roles that indigenous knowledge (i.e. intellectual property) play in identifying important natural products.

Thus it recommended that:
* National governments, with advice from appropriate professional organizations within the region, develop adequate legislation to exercise control over collection and export of biological material,

* As a high priority, governments, international agencies, multinational corporations and academic institutions, through training, laboratory construction and technology transfer, should support the development of human and material resources needed for all aspects of local biological evaluations of indigenous materials for conservation and for managed development,

* For all collecting, the authorizing agreement(s) should include provision for any subsequent commercial development that may eventually arise,

* Internationally recognized professional societies develop a code of ethics that facilitates the development of equitable partnership in the development of new natural products from biological material,

* Mandatory royalty or license agreement be established to ensure fair and equitable distribution of benefits to the region of origin,

* Supply agreements should only be made by the appropriate country organization and not with individuals within that country,

* In order to avoid over - exploitation of promising species, the country organization should adopt methods to protect the identity and provenance of its biological material,

* Specific regulations be established to ensure that the collection and export of biological materials is adequately monitored and controlled in the interest of the country supplying the material. These should include the requirement that:
- Collections are made together with local counterparts appointed by the country organization involved,
- Adequate annotated, preserved voucher specimens of biological material are lodged in appropriate national institutions,
- Sufficient funds are provided by external organization to cover the support costs that may be incurred,
- If there is a threat of destructive harvesting, provision must be made for sustainable or development of alternative supplies,

- The traditional knowledge of local participants contributing to development of new natural products must be recognized as significant intellectual property.

REFERENCES

Baker, J.T., Morris R.T., Carte B., Cordell, G.A., Soejarto, D.D. et al 1995. Natural Product Drug Discovery and Development: New Perspective on International Collaboration. J. Natural Product, 58(9): 1325 - 1357

Balick, M. 1990 Ethnology and the Identification of Therapeutic Agents from the Rainforest, In D.J. Chadwick and J. Arsh, eds, Bioactive Compounds from Plants.

Croom, Jr., E.M. 1983. Documenting and Evaluating Herbal Remedies. Economic Botany. 37: 13-27.

Fransworth, N., et al. 1985 Medicinal Plants in Therapy. WHO Bulletin, 63, 965 - 966

Munasinghe, M. (1992) Bio diversity Protection Policy: Environmental Valuation and Distribution Issues.

Ndamba, J., Nyazema, N.Z. Anderson, C., Makaza, N. and Kaoendera, K.C. 1994. Traditional Remedies Used in the Treatment of Urinary Schistosomiasis in Zimbabwe, J. Ethnopharmacology 42: 125-132

Ndamba, J., Nyazema, N.Z. Anderson, C., Makaza, N. and Kaoendera, K.C. 1994. The Doctrine of Signatures and Similitudes: A Comparison of the Efficacy of Praziquantel and Traditional Herbal Remedies Used in the Treatment of Urinary Schistosomiasis in Zimbabwe. Int. J. Ethnopharmacology 32: 142-148.

Posey, D. (1990a) Intellectual Property Rights: What is the position of ethnobiology? J. Ethnobiology 10, 93-98.

Ehrlich, P.R. and Ehrlich, A.H. (1992) The value of biodiversity. Ambio 21, 219-226

Zimbabwe Patents Act. Chapter 26:03. Revised Edition, 1996. Government Printer, Harare, pp74

Reply

 

To anyone who can help with advice or recommend S A contacts,

I would very much like to ask anyone in the Phytomedica group if
there is anyone in South Africa who could help us with testing our
IMITHI remedies AS THEY ARE for efficacy - as antibacterial,
antifungal and also anti-inflammatory. OR if anyone else has
managed to get tests done with whole plant remedies.

It does not seem relevant to test the individual plant ingredients in
the conventional Western microbiological way by separating,
using various solvents and drying methods, crushing, centrifuging
etc. etc. to isolate single chemical components which might have
these actions.

This is not the way traditional plant based remedies are ever
prepared or used by the people who need them and use them. We
need the whole plant mixtures, powders, decoctions, tinctures and
ointments etc., tested in a laboratory, for things like zones of
inhibition with bacteria and fungus etc. which I know can be done.

These tests and methodolgies seem not to be used or accepted
by "scientific" bodies and researchers at academic institutions.
Possibly because there is no funding available to do so - and no
funding because the results are not patentable and therefore no
financial gain is to be expected. It seems that financial gain is the
only reason people test plants today - the common good and pure
research are perhaps a thing of the past!?

The reason we need these tests done is not really to prove
that the plant remedies work (everyone who uses them knows that
they work, and the empirical evidence is overwhelmingly positive,
usually well documented, and often ancient) - but in order for the
clinics to use them with the blessing of the medical boards approval,
they need to be able to point to scientific tests and their successful
results, carried out by a recognised research institution!

To pick up on a previous message to the forum - I would like to
agree with Dr Seth Seroka, and say that perhaps voicing these
concerns loud and clear is one way to begin to address the problem.
The Phytomedica forum gives everyone the right to do this and be
read by everyone else on the listserver.

I would like to know if the best and most relevant of the views &
opinions expressed on the Phytomedica forum are ever passed
along, collated, and condensed in some way with the idea of a
publication, or as documents or even emails to decision makers in
Health, Research and Government worldwide? Perhaps we need a
list of addresses we could use to do this ourselves!?

Reading the plethora of often conflicting documents and
information regarding Intellectual Property Rights and Genetic
Resource Rights - it seems to me that whatever happens and
however much is said and written and legislated - basically the
resources and Indigenous Knowledge of those who traditionally use
and know their plants but are poor and usually not Western
educated, but live in areas of great biodiversity - is to be "handed
over/sold" to those who do have lots of money and modern
Western technology, but have historically ruined their biodiversity
and usually completely overlooked and ridiculed any of the
Indigenous Knowledge they themselves might have or have had!

Whether the Knowledge or the Genetic Resources are to be sold for
money or in exchange for "equitable agreements" or compensation
of any sort - they are still "taken" and when "developed" will
invariably be too expensive for the original owners to ever afford,
or most likely completely useless and irrelevant to them.

Any form of compensation or "payment" is almost invariably going
to change the way of life, culture, balance of power, and certainly
affect biodiversity and the balance of the environment - and coming
from the "modern Western" world these changes are likely to be
consumerist and Western oriented, doing further damage to
traditional ways of life and culture.

The challenge as I see it is to think completely differently and from a
new viewpoint - look at what is really valuable, in the long term, to
everyone - for their health, their culture, their soul, and especially to
the earth and its immensely fragile and interlocking systems of
plants and animals.

I do not think we are on the right track at the moment, but sincerely
hope and believe there is one, and that it has to be found soon!

Regards, Yvette van Wijk



writing on behalf of:
The Garden Route Botanical Garden Trust & Southern Cape Herbarium - NPO (nonprofit organisation)
- situated in the Moriarty Environmental Centre, 49 Caledon Street, George
Tel/Fax: 044-8501135 Email: yvwijk@pixie.co.za

incorporating

BEEP (Botanical & Environmental Education Project)

IMITHI a project researching traditional medicinal plant use and working with local communities and clinics.

Please visit us at the Herbarium and see the Garden with
its Aids Garden of Hope as well as the Medicnal Plant Mound in process of being
planted.

 

------------------
Dear Yvette,
I am glad that you are interested in the 'validation' of traditional
remedies. In fact I have a Project going on precisely the same area. I
have been validating the utilisation of herbal remedies as it is used by
the lay people of Mauritius. We have got some very interesting results
and confirms the utilisation of so many of these herbal remedies.
Regards,
Ameenah Gurib-Fakim.


Yvette van Wijk wrote:

Hide message history

>To anyone who can help with advice or recommend S A contacts,
>
>I would very much like to ask anyone in the Phytomedica group if
>there is anyone in South Africa who could help us with testing our
>IMITHI remedies AS THEY ARE for efficacy - as antibacterial,
>antifungal and also anti-inflammatory. OR if anyone else has
>managed to get tests done with whole plant remedies.
>
>It does not seem relevant to test the individual plant ingredients in
>the conventional Western microbiological way by separating,
>using various solvents and drying methods, crushing, centrifuging
>etc. etc. to isolate single chemical components which might have
>these actions.

 

Greetings to the Group.

The use of herbs as medicine is a global practice. Today according to
the WHO ... 80% of the global population use them as primary health
care. Not so very long ago the figure was 100%. Herbs are literally
the Mother of all Medicine.

The earliest evidence that we have to support that view was the
discovery of a 60,000 year old burial site in Northern Iraq with a
beautiful and evocative name, 'Shanidar'. Surrounding the remains,
and in the dust they found pollen from 8 genra ( A group of the same
type but differing variety) of herbs from the Angiospermae (Flowering
Plants) All of them belong to the species that are still in use as
medicines today.

Plants can indeed be lethal. They were the favourite weapon of
the 'Borgia's' but they can also be healing and nutritive. So that
their awsome power is also benign.

In one herb there is more force and power
than is to be found in all the folders that are read in high college
and which are not fated to live long.

Paracelsus 1493 - 1541.

Herbs elicit every known pharmacological response. This is common
sense because at the molecular level ( a grouping of two or even
trillions of atoms) the whole world in its fecundity is one giant
macromolecule.

In order for it to all hang together, the individual molecules must
mesh with each other. The flowering plants were the Pro-Consul of
mankind. Accordingly our molecular structure in many ways resemble
that of the plants.

It is now understood that plants have muscles; to be sure they are
not constructed like the human muscle but nature has used the same
principle and the same, or similar chemical shapes to produce
movement. Muscle contraction in our specie involves the union of two
proteins called actin and myosin.

An experiment was carried out whereby actin was extracted from a
fungus and added to human myosin. They worked together perfectly; and
when the herbs magnesium eye is aligned with its solar deity, it uses
opsin and carotenoids to see, they are also essential for human
vision; the herbs also use the same nerve transmitter as we do
(acetylcholine) to pass the message.

Such things should not surprise, for we use plant derived hormones
and amino acids and we use plant derived chemical shapes to produce
new shapes. Indoleatic acid or auxin is very similar to the brain
chemical serotonin.

There are various fragments of materia medica from the ancient
Babylonian and Egyptian eras. Examination of the medical recipes show
a fine grasp of the knowledge required of a sophisticated system of
medicine, it cannot be simply brushed aside as magical mumbo jumbo.
Some of the recipes contained animal and insect parts, while others
contained faeces from various sources.

In the past it has been the trend in orthodox medical circles to
dismiss such formulations as gutter or sewer pharmacy, while ignoring
the obvious parallel with modern Sera and vaccines. However, today a
more enlightened interpretation of the evidence is steadily gaining
ground.

"So also the ancient idea of urine and other secretions as drugs
might easily be written off as primitive superstition if we did not
know that it led by rational if quasi-empirical trains of thought
combined with the use of chemical techniques originally developed for
quite different purposes, to the preparation of the steroid and
protein hormones many centuries before the time of experimental
endocrinology and biochemistry."

Doctor Joseph Needham
`Science and Civilisation in China'.
Vol. 5 Chapter 15 Cambridge.

The most famous of the Egyptian medical writing, is the so
called `Ebers' papyrus, which has been dated C 1550 BC, i.e., almost
3,500 years old, therefore we must avoid the trap of confusing
technology with intelligence, or considering scientific theory to be
superior to empirical knowledge, because clearly it is not.

Science does not know how to make living molecules, it must borrow
from nature. Analysis of many different herbs has revealed the fact,
that all of the herbs individual secondary compounds (they elecit the
pharmacologic response from the body) has a distinct reaction in its
own right, in exactly the same way as the Pharmacy single compound
tablet.

A better understanding of this may be had by going to my web page and
reading the article called the 'Foxglove Foxtrot'

Each of those individual chemical entities either modify, by
assisting the major chemical (which in the case of Foxglove is
Digitalis) Or they lessen its effect. Or they will correct a problem
engendered by another chemical entity which is also part of the
spectrum.

The subtle power of nature is dazzling. She balances many hundreds of
chemical compounds to produce a specific response within the human
organism. Such Alchemy is undreamed of by Science. In other words
they cannot do it ... they are chemical childlike dummies when faced
with such astounding complexity.

Their answer is a single or double compound drug. A molecular copy of
a chemical which has had stripped from it all of the natural safety
barriers that nature built into that chemical. That is why isolated
chemical entties can have such disasterous effects.

Substances such as cocaine, morphine, heroin etc are man made
isolated chemicals from a plant of which all of the safety barriers
have been stripped away. Hence they can be lethal. However because
these substances cannot be patented there is no money to be made. So
an attempt is made to produce a synthetic analog (mirror image
molecule) they cannot produce a natural molecule. The mirror image
(dead) can then be patented. In addition they can also snip pieces
off or add to a natural molecule in order to gain a patent. The
results of that human disaster are all around us.

The duplicity and cupidity of the Pharmaceutical Companies is now
legendary. Even the Doctors have fell for it. they all know on which
side their bread is buttered.

In the years 1993 and 1998, studies were published, that estimated
the number of deaths in the USA that were attributable to the medical
system. The figures are as follows;

12 000 deaths a year from unnecessary surgery
7 000 deaths a year from medication errors in hospitals
20 000 deaths a year from other errors in hospitals
80 000 deaths a year from infections acquired in hospitals
106 000 deaths a year from non-error, adverse effects of medications

These 225 000 deaths a year in the United States, represent third
place in the mortality stakes. Heart disease, is in first place, with
Cancer in second. Heart disease, Cancer and Iatrogenic (Physician
caused) disease is out stripping our capacity to deal with it. It is
increasing rapidly, on an annual basis.
Source of figures : Starfield B. JAMA 2000, 284, 483.

The sort of problems listed are not just confined to the prescription
only drugs. The over the counter (OTC's) drugs and pharmacy only
medications (POM's) are generally considered to be safe and yet, the
ubiquitous Aspirin is estimated to be responsible for around 5% of
fatal poisonings each year. The much used anti-inflammatories,
antacids and laxatives are estimated to account for 20% of all drug
related hospital admissions.

The G.P. and MD reporting system for adverse drug reactions is
voluntary. The G.P. is expected to exercise `clinical judgement' and
a patients' report of side-effects is anecdotal, and per se not
considered to be reliable. Accordingly, the Doctors decision to
report or not, is all too often based on a subjective criterion, e.g.
he/she is neurotic, hysterical, hypochondriac, etc. It may well,
equally be ignored because of sheer pressure of work and unwilling to
take on more. More sinister is that they have made a disasterous
mistake. How many deaths due to side effects have not been reported ?

The major point to be made is, that many of the drugs implicated in
fatalities and extreme reactions, had been on the market for a number
of years, and some for decades, before being withdrawn. Given the
evidence surrounding the synthetic and semi-synthetic drugs, the
problem is obviously being under reported, and must only represent a
small percentage of the total deaths and maiming's in any one year.

The World Health Organisation has estimated fully 80% of the world
population use herbal medicine. Therefore 20% must use Pharmaceutical
sourced medicines.

Therefore a rough figure is that 1 billion people globally use
Western style medicine. Therefore even the under reported figures
from the USA (Pop. 252 million) represent that fully 5.67% of the
general public are killed by the Pharmaceutical and Medical
fraternity in the USA.

If we extrapolate that 5.67% on the basis of 1 billion legal drug
users on a worldwide basis then the death toll annually is 56 million
7 hundred thousand.

Never in our recorded history has the human race ever faced such a
carnage and slaughter. To this we must also add the problems of the
man made virus's such as AIDS and Ebola. I feel that there is
sufficient evidence to warrant a real enquiry into how these mutant
entities arrived in Africa and other hotspots around the world. The
official line is to blame the victim. These is how the power brokers
do it, from the most petty little health official up to the real
power brokers.

This sort of truth hardly ever finds its way into the consciousness
of the victims. It is carefully concealed or where it cannot be any
longer concealed, then the truth is cloaked in self serving $10 words.

All of this could be changed but it will not be without some direct
and positive action from the peasantry. All it takes is to withdraw
your support from this monsterous and cancerous system.

Start with the Universities who have close ties with the
Pharmaceutical companies, because it is from there that the bacillus
plague issues forth to wreak its damage in the form of brainwashed
clones who have a high sense of their own importance.

We have already seen that Pfizer fresh from the killings in Nigeria
are now in New Zealand and up to the same game with Auckland
University and the Government Health Department. These are our
children that they are experimenting on.

The Government will not protect us if there is a dollar to be made.
They are spraying West Aucklanders and deliberately refuse to reveal
what they are spraying. Draw your own conclusions.

One death from a natural product, and the weasels emerge from their
lair in the form of Pharmaceutical, Medical and Government Renta
crowd that are making money from the system.

But they do not tell you about the constant stream of bodies from the
back doors of Hospitals in the early hours of the morning. The
Undertakers are doing a roaring business. These victims are just a
few pellets of the medical excreta. Remember 56 million deaths from
Iatrogenic Disease in one year, and this figure is steadily growing.

(1) "Iatrogenic medicine reinforces a morbid society, in which social
control of the population by the medical system, turns into economic
activity."

(2) "The malignant spread of medicine .... turns mutual care and self-
medication into misdemeanors and felonies."

(3) "The divorce between medicine and morality has been defended on
the ground that medical categories, unlike those of law and religion,
rest on scientific foundations exempt from moral values."

Ivan Illich
Medical Nemesis

Those that legally push Ritalin and other dangerous drugs need to
understand that 40% of the children in the USA are now on some kind
of drugs.

What happens there, will happen at a place near you in a very short
time. Even if all the children were all found to be needing such
rubbish, then it is a very prominent marker.

Nature is telling us something. We as a specie are sick. This
sickness has come from the minds of those that support such a bizzare
view of the human body.

That in itself is a form of mental sickness. The time line, of human
experimentation is a clear indicator that this mental sickness has
turned into a Psychopathic myopia.

It is a time for a change of Medical Regime. The power brokers guilt
is now too large to be concealed. That is why these money driven
blots on the face of humanity are trying to gain control of the
natural medicines market. If they do then 80% of the world population
will be disenfranchised. Ripped off by the Politicians, Big Business
and the Universities and those things that the universities have
spawned. the way to break this stranglehold on our lives is to go
and take our money elsewhere.

Service of Notices :
Messrs Rookem, Grabbitt and Runn. The Crypt, Lincolns Inn Fields,
London WC2

Phoenix www.herbdatanz.com

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