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3B LIFE/ Ctiarlotte Thursday, January 11,2007 Labido-enchancing root central in global dispute , Continued from page 1B World Trade Organization. Attempts by Peruvian "indigenous groups, mean while, ultimately failed to "■overturn U.S. patents based on ayahuasca, a hallucino- ' genic plant used for centuries in religious and healing cere- • "monies, and nima, a nutri- ■'tious Andean bean that pops ' when toasted. Peru hopes the MacaPure ■ dispute will become a pivotal case in attempts to require all patent applications to disclose ..the source of genetic materi als. Alejandro Argumedo, a . Quechua Indian agronomist ! and activist, says the French, : company that bought ; PureWorld in 2005, Naturex, has no right to “privatize knowledge that belongs to an entire region.” Naturex’s marketing man- ^ ager, Antoine Dauby, says the ; company acknowledges that ; maca’s beneficial properties were long ago discovered by indigenous Peruvians. He says its patent lets them “grow, sell and use maca as they have for centuries.” “Our patent is for the extraction and isolation of maca’s key ingredient—and nothing else,” said Dauby. As a good faith gesture, he said, Naturex is offering to grant fiiee licenses to Peruvian com panies to use MacaPure in their products. Qun Yi Zheng, PureWorld’s former president and chief scientist, says the company invested more than $1 million and three years of research in the endeavor and that it pop ularized maca as a worldwide Peruvian export. Peruvians “should not be so narrow-minded,” Zheng said, but should instead be grate ful. “After we studied it, put money into the research, (maca) has become a useful commodity.” A wide range of potency peddling maca-based prod ucts —fh>m powders and piUs to jams and candies—have helped triple Peru’s exports of the plant from $1.3 million in 2000 to more than $3 million annually since 2003, accord ing to the Exporters Association of Peru. Japan was Peru’s biggest maca customer in 2005, fol lowed by the United States, Germany, Belgium and Canada. Zheng’s peer-reviewed study, published in the jour nal Urology in April 2000, showed that MacaPure great ly improved penile dysfunc tion in castrated rats. Also, lab mice fed the stuff for 22 days engaged in sexual inter course up to 67 times in a three-hour period, compared with 16 times by less randy rodents deprived of the extract. Peru contends PureWorld’s alcohol-based extraction process simply mimics the centuries-old practice by Andean people of soaking dried maca root in Andean moonshine to release the libido boosters. But providing scientific proof to show IhireWorld’s for mula falls short of a “novel” and “useful” invention has proven elusive. ‘We don’t have the technolo gy for this analysis and we have had to turn to a scientist in the United States who offered to do the analysis for free,” said Manuel Ruiz, a director at the nonprofit Peruvian Society for Environmental Law and a member of Peru’s National Anti-Biopiracy Commission. Peru has also enlisted the pro bono help of Washington attorney Jorge Goldstein to prepare a legal challenge. He is examining, among other things, archives from rural Peruvian universities to demonstrate that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office failed to consider “prior art”— pre-existing knowledge that could be used to overturn the patent. Chris Kilham, who conduct ed the initial field research for MacaPure in the Peruvian highlands, says he can see the issue from both sides. “PhirqWorld, which did all of this work, found compounds that nobody knew existed before,” said Kilham, a profes sor of ethnobotany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. ‘“On the other hand, the native people from whom the knowledge of especially the sexual applications of maca arise were not at all consid ered in these patents.” The specter of biopiracy in Peru dates back to the 1630s, when Jesuit priests took bark from the Peru'vian cinchona tree —the original source of quinine—back to Europe, where it was hailed as a mir acle cure for malaria. Peru never got wealthy from the discovery. Cinchona seeds were smug gled by the Dutch from Peru in the 19th century and plant ed in Java. Indonesia became the world’s primary source of quinine. Experience the Culture...Cherish the Legacy M. Program helping college-bound students THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ■ NASHVILLE, 'Ibnn.-For ; Ashley Williams, going to col- I lege seemed too expensive. ’ “I’m a smart student, but a lot of times that doesn’t get pit,” said Williams, a 16-year- ' old who lives in Durham. ,' But thanks to a North I • Carolina program that bun- 1, dies together a high school ■ I diploma with a community I'college degree in five years, . ‘Williams won’t have to worry ; 'about the cost. ; “It really put my mind at ; ease,” Williams said. So far, 23 states including Tfennessee have created these early college programs, which let students get a diploma and a two-year associate’s degree in five years. Tennessee has two such programs in Memphis, but Gov. Phil Bredesen has said he wants to create more in his second term to improve the state’s graduation rate, which is about 79 percent. “If students see the benefit, we can really see them walk ing away with a high school diploma,” said Drew Kim, Bredesen’s policy chief. “We want families to begin to think about high school in a different way.” Many of the existing pro grams are located at commu nity colleges and give high school students an opportuni ty to graduate with a profes sional skill in five years. The programs are still a new idea, so there’s not much data on how successful the early colleges have been at getting kids to graduate. “Anecdotally it sounds good, 5Ut we just don’t have the lard data,” said Jennifer Dounay, policy analyst for Education Commission of the States, a Colorado-based group that helps state leaders ,nn education policy. A supporter of early college Drograms, Joel Vargas, senior project manager for the non profit Jobs for the Future, said statistics from the first :hree early colleges show that 95 percent of entering ninth- i^aders got a diploma, 57 per cent earned associate’s degrees and about 80 percent were accepted into four-year colleges. North Carolina (jOv. Mike Easley, who started the pro gram in his state, agreed they have been successful, and he cited one student who went from an early college program to North Carolina State and was No. 1 in his junior class. In any case, early college programs are certainly becoming more popular. “They’re something you’ve heaid a lot about in the last couple of years,” said Christopher Swanson, direc tor of the research division of the Bethesda, Md.-based non profit Editorial Projects in Education. “It bridges the gap between high school and col leges. It gives students a leg up.” Michelle Brantley- Patterson, principal at Middle College at Southwest Tennessee Community College, one of the early col leges in Memphis, said the program is often a better use of the students’senior year. “A lot of kids only have two or three classes their senior year,” she said. “But by blend ing that senior year with requirements, it gets your foot in the door and you don’t have to wait a whole year before starting the next phase.” Easley said he got interest ed in starting the program in North Carolina ater looking at his son’s senior-year sched ule. “He had a lot of electives, courses that weren’t that important,” Easley said. “He was home by lunchtime.” Another benefit, officials say, is reducing the cost of col lege. “A lot of time people are overwhelmed at the thought of dealing with college expenses,” Easley said. “This lets them get the worry out of the way before they have any expenses.” For early colleges to be suc cessful, experts say commu nity colleges and local school districts must have a healthy relationship, as well as ade quate planning and develop ment. “There needs to be a lot of cooperation between K-12 and community colleges,” said Cece Cunningham, director of Middle College National Consortium, a school development organiza tion that developed the cur riculum at the Memphis schools. Chancellor James Ammons of North Carolina Central University, home to the Josephine Dobbs Clement Early College High School, agrees there has to be “a close and trusting relationship between the university and the school system.” “One of the things we did over the year was to build that,” Ammons said. Ashley Williams, who will graduate from Josephine Dobbs Clement in 2008, 'will earn college credit toward a majors in public administra tion and political science. “I plan to become a city manager, then governor, and who knows, maybe even pres ident,” she said. • Rvdjrr S www.gullahcelebration.com kTSWaod Buslne« and CDirnuiMt/Mf alts teodiil!3n.lncP.»nt'Giillo>>CelehriUnnHoSlr« (,877)6500676 ■Say Yes To Success! “Dr, Arrington teaches you how to iead a healthy, balanced and successful life Dr. Carl Arrington, Director of Market Expansion To advertise or subscribe call, The Post @ (704) 376-0496 The Charleston House o-iv The/ Pl/O/^fO/ 3128 The Plozo Charlotte, NC 704.333.4441 What’s New For You? As we begin the New Year, this is a time of promise and possibilities for us. It is a time when we feel that we can have a new start. As we review the past year, it may be that we did not accomplish all that we set out to achieve last year. The New Year brings with it the sense that we can have another chance to achieve the dreams that got away from us last year, When it comes to the dreams that we have, we tend to focus on three areas of our lives in which we would like to see improvement. We would like to have greater health, wealth and love. When you ask others about their New Year’s resolutions, you will notice that generally they will all fit into at least one of these categories. Perhaps the most popular one is centered around health. How many people have said that during the New Year they want to lose weight or perhaps will exercise more? Often people see this as a time to pursue new financial or career opportunities. This is a time that seems just right to set in motion plans that will improve one’s financial situation. This is also a time when people feel that they can perhaps create new beginnings with those they love and care about. It could be that in the past year relationships seemed strained or threatened. The New Year offers an opportunity to make some changes that could perhaps strengthen the relationships that mean so much to us. As you think about the possibilities of the New Year, what will be new for you? Will you achieve better health, greater wealth, or stronger relationships? Do you have the resources in place to achieve your dreams and goals that you have for 2007? Learn How to Achieve Your Goakfor 2007 Contact Dr, Arrington for details 704-5n-im cla@maximumsuccess.com Your Source for Total Life Success! Manmum TotmtiaL Inc... into tfie fomr of you! 1NTOR.MAT10N REQUEST FOR MORE DETAILS * FAX: 704-S66-8704 Name_ Cicv Su'eet Address _2p Code_ Home Phone Work Phone E-mail Don’t Delay, Call Today!
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Jan. 11, 2007, edition 1
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