And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 214 >Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 08:45:17 EST >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [FN] Fwd: Mayan Indigenous Peoples to Participate in Drug... >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Mayan Indigenous Peoples to Participate in Drug... >Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 08:41:59 EST >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit > >Mayan Indigenous Peoples to Participate in Drug Screening Programme; Will >Catalogue Benefits of Local Herbal Medicines > >SLOUGH, United Kingdom, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Xenova Group plc (London Stock >Exchange: XEN; Nasdaq: XNVAY) today announced that Xenova Discovery, a >subsidiary of Xenova Group plc, has been awarded a research programme grant by >The International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups Programme of the US National >Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the US Department of >Agriculture. Xenova was awarded the grant as part of a joint proposal led by >the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA. El Colegio de la Frontera >Sur, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico will also participate in the >programme. > >Under the terms of the grant, Xenova Discovery will gain access for the first >time to the biodiversity of the Chiapas region of Southern Mexico, part of one >of the world's most important biodiversity areas, with the long term goal of >developing new therapeutic agents. Work will be carried out among and with >the collaboration of the local Maya-speaking peoples, who utilise hundreds of >species of plants in an ancient system of traditional medicine. Xenova >Discovery will undertake the chemical profiling of a comprehensive inventory >of the flora of Chiapas, with a special emphasis on those medicinal plants >used extensively by the local populations. Fungi and actinomycetes, >especially those associated with rare or endemic plants of the region, will >also be isolated and fermented. Libraries of extracts and compounds will be >prepared from selected plants and microbial fermentations, using techniques >developed by Xenova and adding to the novelty and diversity of Xenova's >NatChem(TM) library system. The libraries will then be screened against a >wide range of targets for pharmaceutical or agrochemical lead discovery. As >part of the programme, local Maya collaborators will be trained in >participatory workshop activities for the isolation and culturing of samples. > >The Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya-speaking populations of the central highlands of >Chiapas, Mexico, define illnesses by describing their symptoms. They then >treat the symptoms of a wide range of diseases, from reproductive problems to >mental disorders, using a complex understanding of herbal healing which is >passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth and experience. > >The beneficial effects of indigenous medicines are well documented. Aspirin, >for example, was originally derived from the use of willow bark to treat fever >in the European herbal medicines tradition. "The team has had direct personal >experience of the value of the local traditional healing practices," said Dr. >Neil Robinson, Xenova Discovery's Head of Analytical Chemistry. "When Dr. >Elois Ann Berlin, the wife of consortium leader Professor Brent Berlin, and >her daughter were burned by scalding water, the use of a local remedy -- >application of the sticky balm of the inner leaf of the nopal, a common >prickly pear cactus -- led to faster healing for herself than for her >daughter, who was treated with standard modern medical techniques." Dr. Elois >Ann Berlin is also a scientist on the consortium. > >The consortium aims to conduct a medical ethnobiology and biodiversity >inventory of the Highland Region of Chiapas, about a third of the total area >of the state, and to consider conservation, sustainable harvest and economic >growth. The group is currently awaiting completion of negotiations and >appropriate agreements with the Mexican government for work to proceed. > >Other successful award applicants include Glaxo Wellcome, Bristol-Myers >Squibb, Shaman Pharmaceuticals, American Cyanamid and Monsanto-Searle, all of >whom will work with academic groups in various areas of special biological >interest. > >Safe Harbor Statement under the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of >1995: Some or all of the statements in this document that relate to future >plans, expectations, events, performances and the like are forward- looking >statements, as defined in the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of >1995. Actual results of events could differ materially from those described >in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including those >set forth in the Company's filings with the US Securities and Exchange >Commission. > >SOURCE Xenova Group plc > >CO: Xenova Group plc; Xenova Discovery; International Cooperative >Biodiversity Groups Programme of the US National Institutes of Health, >National Science Foundation and the US Department of Agriculture > >ST: United Kingdom > >IN: MTC > >SU: > >12/22/98 08:40 EST http://www.prnewswire.com <<<<=-=-=FREE LEONARD PELTIER=-=-=>>>> If you think you are too small to make a difference; try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.... African Proverb <<<<=-=http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ =-=>>>> IF it says: "PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW...." Please Check it before you send it at: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm
