#rosy periwinkle

[negmo-photograph]

色褪せ始めたニチニチソウ

Rosy periwinkle that has begun to fade.

Oct.2025

OM SYSTEM OM-D E-M5MarkIII

M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-45mm F4.0 PRO

[wtf-fun-factss]

The chemical vinblastine which helps fight a number of different cancers is made from the dried leaves of the Madagascar periwinkle. - WTF Fun Facts

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321726.php

[negmo-photograph]

雨とニチニチソウ

Rain and Madagascar Periwinkle.

Aug.2023

OM SYSTEM OM-D E-M5MarkIII

M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-45mm F4.0 PRO

[syndiora]

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[wormcommittee]

[youngmed18]

Taking from the Poor and Giving to the Rich

When “Protecting the Global Health” has Gone Too Far

This past week, we have discussed various topics surrounding Epidemics and Artifacts. Beginning  with the Measles outbreak of 2014 due to lack of vaccination through the mystery surrounding Phineas Gage. During our lecture on Epidemics, the concept of Bio-prospecting and Bio-piracy arose, specifically in relation to the Indonesian Government. The Indonesian Government withheld samples of an H5N1 sample for vaccine usage, fearing they would be neglected when one was created. They were correct. This particular discussion greatly impacted me. Living in the West, I have never stopped to think about the history of the vaccines that I am required to have. In the case of Indonesia, a major Pharmaceutical company came into possession of a sample, created a commercial vaccine, and essentially sold the limited supply to the highest bidder, not considering those who really need them. Those the really need a vaccination are used to make them but almost rarely receive them.

The Narrative of Epidemics is held by the major pharmaceutical companies and their possession of commercial vaccines. These companies turn around and make profits off of practices and contagions of poor and or indigenous communities. I question how companies give(or should give) financial credit to these nations/communities. The simple answer to this is to attribute parts of the vaccines to these indigenous/ poor communities or simply provide vaccines to them at little to no cost. However, pharmaceutical companies choose to inflate costs for personal gain. 

~Bio-Prospecting & Bio-Piracy~

Bio-prospecting and bio-piracy have a long standing history, even before they wer formally known as “bio-prospecting” or “bio-piracy.” From Cori Hayden’s article on Bio-prospecting, bio-prospecting is the use of plants & “traditional knowledge” as leads for developing new drugs. Bio-piracy is when “large pharmaceutical corporations make use of local medical knowledge without acknowledging that it is indigenous intellectual property” or from other nations. In the late 1980s when bio-prospecting was first given it’s definition, the line between it and bio-piracy seemed clear. Today, this line is extremely thin. The overlying issue with bio-prospecting is this, How should/do companies & Communities settle on the overlying issue of intellectual property rights towards various indigenous practices and what they ensue?

Of the estimated 250,000 known plant species in the world today, perhaps 5,000 have been screened for their medicinal potential. Yet, any one species could be the cure for a disease that is considered incurable. Consumers in the United States spend more than $6 billion annually on medicines derived from tropical plants. That lucrative market is the incentive pharmaceutical companies need to scour the rich rain forests of the tropics for the virtually limitless supply of active compounds, some of which could contain compounds for the next miracle drug.

- Conservation International

In my research for an answer, I found a prime example of the infringement on intellectual property rights. This is through a plant or weed know as Rosy Periwinkle(pictured above). Today, this plant is used in many modern medical procedures such as treatment for tumors and leukemia.However, Rosy Periwinkle is not a native species to North America. Rosy Periwinkle originates from Madagascar, growing along roads and infields near farms, not in threatened forests as some would believe and scientists claimed. Rosy Periwinkle represents the promises and dangers of harvesting rare plants for corporate gain.

The late 1980s gave rise to the “green rush” where plant species began to be screened at high rates due to new technological advancements( Bitter Roots: The search for Healing Plants in Africa, Ch.1). When Rosy Periwinkle was used in two valuable patents created by chemist Gordon Svoboda in 1965. This patent award gave Svoboda and the company he worked for “exclusive rights to unique processes to extract chemicals” from the rosy periwinkle plant. These chemicals would be used in drugs that treat leukemia and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Annual profits from these medications were once reported to be up to $400 million. Svoboda and the pharmaceutical company were able to embrace the profits they earned but the indigenous people they took the plant from did not. 

It has been over two decades and the debates surrounding rewards from the plant-based medications. In the first chapter of “Bitter Roots: The Search for Healing Plants in Africa”,Osseo-Asare discusses the backgrounds of these debates and the various usages, and practices surrounding Rosy Periwinkle.Scientists behind many of the debates argued that Madagascar’s role in the discovering of the potential use of periwinkle for pharmacological action was minimal. The evidence they provided was how,“…it was certainly not easy and required millions of dollars of investment.” They then argued that compensation for periwinkle would provide incentive for the preservation of forests.However Periwinkle naturally does not grow in forests. Since Periwinkle grows along fields and near farms, these scientists had to infringe upon people’s personal property to gain samples. They then went forward and continued to display periwinkle as their own without acknowledging traditional practices.

This scientists “discover” of the usage of periwinkle reiterates my point about the thin line between bioprospecting and biopiracy. They believe they are doing things for the better of the community and gaining valuable knowledge, however, they attribute nothing to the teacher’s of this knowledge.

In a bioprospecting blog post I read, they stated my feelings on this topic perfectly. They stated, 

“No matter how convincing the rhetoric, conservation and equity are secondary issues. Under the vast majority of current bioprospecting agreements, when indigenous peoples share information or genetic materials they effectively lose control over such resources, regardless of whether or not they are compensated.”

This is evident in the case of rosy periwinkle;for decades this medication has been used numerous times, but without knowledge of where it came from. Although Rosy Periwinkle had been used for possibly centuries, the scientists ignored the rights of the indigenous people because they did not have any written record. The first written accounts of Rosy periwinkle were in the 1600s by French explores, documenting their medical usages and connection to Madagascar. 

The natives of Madagascar have been using periwinkle for various treatments as simple as headaches for centuries and passing them down through oral traditions or practices. This leads me to question: Will there ever truly be a way to claim certain practices without infringing on indigenous or prior intellectual property rights?

Sources:

https://bmcimglobal.wordpress.com/category/bioprospecting/

http://www.etcgroup.org/content/bioprospectingbiopiracy-and-indigenous-peoples

http://chicago.universitypressscholarship.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/view/10.7208/chicago/9780226086163.001.0001/upso-9780226085524-chapter-2   (Requires HUID)

http://www.iiirm.org/publications/Articles%20Reports%20Papers/Genetics%20and%20Biotechnology/Jim%20Zion%20Paper-Native%20Peoples%20Genetic%20Material%20Rights.pdf

Article: From Market to Market: Bioprospecting’s Idioms of Inclusion

[cherryautumnx-blog]

beauty.

[epikleader]

Such a beautiful flower, as well as saviour of so many lives... :)