Nobel recognition

MALARIA infects 20 crore people worldwide every year. There is no effective vaccine, so therapies based on the drug Artemisinin are the first line of treatment. There was a time when malaria used to be treated with chloroquine or quinine. The easy availability of the drug led to a significant drop in death rates, but its widespread use meant strains of malaria became resistant. That’s when scientist Tu Youyou turned to ancient Chinese herbal remedies for answers. She found Artemisinin in the 1970s under a Chinese army project to zero in on a plant whose properties could help fight malaria. Tu is among the three scientists to have won the Nobel Prize for medicine for discovering ways to fight malaria and roundworm parasite infections. 

Her recognition is bound to bring the focus back on the potential of herbal medicine in India. Despite a new interest generated in recent years, it has remained a neglected subject in the country. If that is unfortunate, so is the BJP’s push to accord itself stewardship of ancient knowledge, and infusing a liberal mix of fantasy. Its manifestation was reflected in the Indian Science Congress held in January. There, scholars chose to talk of ancient vehicles flying to Mars and animal heads being transplanted. What could have been an informed discussion on ways to reclaim ancient knowledge with modern tools turned into a sham.

Tu’s methodology of blending the ancient with the modern shows a way to India’s researchers and practitioners of the traditional systems of medicine. That it is not enough to translate old knowledge into the present-day contexts; trials have to be conducted with the best scientific practices; research has to be made accessible for peer review. If she succeeded, it was because of the support of credible research institutions — an idea worth emulating. While acknowledging the ancient texts as repositories of knowledge, there also has to be a recognition of their limits, specially when to let modern science take over. Since 70 per cent of the drugs are derived from natural products, a Nobel for Tu is also a call for preserving biodiversity.