The question of secrecy
Well if they were all that secretive Sofowora and others would not have been able to get data for their work.
Some have shared their information to agents of pharmaceutical companies, and others have passed on information to designated apprentices.
Having said that, let me remind you, that it is not unusual for professionals to guard aspects of their profession especially when there are no job protection safety nets, etc. So let us cut them some slack. If you let the practitioners feel confident about their future, those who hoard information now, would be less likely to do so, granted that there really is no crime in protecting intellectual property and exercising the right to patent /copyright one's medicine.
Dealing with a new disease
Covid 19 is new, but at least classifiable into a known
category of infectious agents, namely, viruses. ATM practitioners are experts in tracking down plants with pharmacological properties. One of these could potentially deal with an acutely dangerous pathogen such as the corona virus.
But why should I even
bother to "preach"to the unconverted, when a body of literature on this subject exists -for academic researchers with genuine interest in the subject ?
Sofowora's 1982 text on Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine is a good start, and you can move from there to Rodolfo Juliani et al. African Natural Plant Products: New discoveries..... and Maurice Iwu's , Handbook of African Medicinal Plants.
ATM practitioners engage in plant based medicine, and have constructed a credible data base on the subject. PHYTO
Chemical tests have been validating a lot of their claims.
We will see if the plant detectives, who have been
testing products for generations, strike gold this time around.
Sent from my iPhone
hi gloriaif you would kindly forward to me the thread, i'd happily reread it. at times i do indeed type too quickly.i believe you are referring to the african trad medicine thread where i expressed doubts about its efficacy concerning a disease no one had seen before? for diseases that have been around, testing various products over the years has resulted in some efficacious results; but i can't see how that would work here.i also think in some cases the healers see their craft as part of a spiritual practice to be kept secret. medical knowledge advances when it is shared, and science has advanced only by building on what others before us have discovered. that's how i see medicine working. it is impeded when corporations keep secret patents for their medicines;but if you go to med school, or to any university in the world, what you study is the knowledge of those who came before you.how could a traditional medical practice address the problem of a new disease unless they had tools already developed in the past.you can explain that to me so i'd understand; but what i've seen about atm doesn't lead to believe it would be efficacious in the case of covid-19.ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
517 803-8839
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2020 8:35 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Distortion--Ken,
Read what you wrote, and if you still think that your view was distorted, then accept my heartfelt apology.
GE
Sent from my iPhone
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