[Previous entry: "In Kenya, 'Why Does This Keep Happening?'"] [Next entry: "Race to save first kingdoms in Africa from dam waters"]

01/08/2006:

"India Digitizes Age-Old Wisdom"

India Digitizes Age-Old Wisdom
Effort Seeks to Keep Westerners From Poaching Folk Remedies

NEW DELHI -- In a drafty government institute, Nighat Anjum reads from a dog-eared textbook on traditional Indian medicine and acquaints herself with the miracle fruit known as aamla, which is said to be useful in treating heart palpitations, immune disorders, bed-wetting and memory lapses.

Tapping on a computer keyboard, the 27-year-old physician enters its properties in a database that eventually will contain more than 100,000 such traditional remedies -- the collective wisdom of the ancient healing arts known as ayurveda , unani and siddha , the latter based on the teachings of the Hindu god Shiva.

Other entries include powdered nightingale droppings (a skin lightener and laxative), nightingale flesh (an aphrodisiac), ostrich fat (for aches and pains), ostrich blood (for inflammation), charred sea crab (constipation, ulcers, cataracts and dental stains), honey (for improving vision), tumeric (for treating wounds and rashes) and coconut milk (urinary tract infections).

Employing about 150 doctors and technicians, the four-year, $2 million effort is aimed at protecting India's traditional remedies from theft by multinational drug companies in a practice known here as bio-piracy. The database will also include hundreds of yoga poses so that foreigners cannot copyright them as their own.
washingtonpost.com