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Kuwait Garden
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Dede Koswara (Tree man)
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Dede Koswara (Tree man) |
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Dede Koswara who has been named ‘iTree Man of Java’ has had 4lb of bark removed and now wants to get married. Dede is now able to walk without being in pain, and also has the use of his legs. He has said that he want to get better, then get a job and finally meet a woman and marry her.
An Indonesian man has been diagnosed with Human Papilloma Virus which is responsible for bizarre, tree-like warts sprouting all over his body.
The diagnosis was made by Dr Anthony Gaspari , a dermatologist at the University of Maryland. Dr. Gaspari took tissue and blood samples from the patient, named Dede, back to the US for examination. This caused some outrage from Indonesia’s health minister, Siti Fadilah Supari, who accused Dr. Gaspari of taking the samples without permission and conspiring with pharmaceutical companies to use it to create expensive drugs.
“We are offended because the samples were taken from Dede without our permission,” she told reporters at the hospital where the man was being treated. “If they are taken abroad, they could become lucrative commodities.”
It seems the reputation of our pharmaceutical companies precedes us. As callous as Ms. Supari’s comments may seem, they do raise some interesting questions. Who, if anyone, owns a virus? If Dede’s samples are used to develop a vaccine or another sort of profitable drug, is he or the Indonesian government entitled to a share of those profits?
A similar debate has commenced over unique microorganisms found in Yellowstone National Park. A researcher found a new bacterium in Yellowstone hot springs that he turned over to a public repository. Another researcher used that species to create a novel way to analyze DNA. That process is now a $200 million a year cash cow. Neither the researcher who discovered the bacterium nor Yellowstone have seen a dime of that money.
It is a thorny issue. I feel I’d be barking up the wrong…OK I’ll stop. |
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| Date: |
31.07.2010 15:48 |
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