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African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic Volume 7 Isue 6 NEWSLETER May 2012 TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE Support Farmers to Save What is the African Traditional their Indigenous Seeds from Herbal Research Clinic? We can make you healthy and wise GMOs Nakato Lewis By Richard Mugisha Blackherbals at the Source of the Nile, UG Ltd. February 3, 2012 The Monitor The African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic located in Ntinda, Uganda is a modern clinic facility Food is a basic human right and people’s recognition, established to create a model space whereby protection and realisation of this right is very critical. As indigenous herbal practitioners and healers can upgrade stakeholders look for solutions to the current food crisis, and update their skills through training and certification there is need to keep in mind the voices of those who are and respond to common diseases using African healing at the centre of, and charged with growing and producing methods and traditions in a modern clinical this food-the farmers. Traditional food crops/plants have environment. always ensured food security at the household level, and contributed to people’s livelihoods. Traditional healers are the major health labor resource in Africa as a whole. In Uganda, indigenous traditional I am concerned that genetic engineering of crops is being healers are the only source of health services for the presented as the best and only alternative method of majority of the population. An estimated 80% of the resolving the food crisis in Africa and particularly in population receives its health education and health care Uganda, ignoring indigenous and sustainable systems of from practitioners of traditional medicine. They are food production that are best known, affordable and knowledgeable of the culture, the local languages and controlled by the local people. local traditions. Our purpose is to raise public Currently, Uganda is one of five African countries awareness and understanding on the value of African promoting GMOs. The other countries include Kenya, traditional herbal medicine and other healing practices Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa. It is in today’s world. Continued on page 2 The Clinic is open and operational. Some of the I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E services we offer are African herbal medicine, reflexology, acupressure, hot and cold hydrotherapy, 3 African Spirituality – Traditional Agriculture 4 Feature – Industrial Agriculture and Biotechnology body massage, herbal tonics, patient counseling, blood 6 Feature –Is Monsanto’s Glyphosate Destroying the Soil? pressure checks, urine testing (sugar), and nutritional 8 Feature – Cancer in Africa” Fighting a Nameless Enemy profiles. We believe in spirit, mind and body. Spiritual 11 Pesticide Firms must be Held to Account for Bee Poisoning counseling upon request. 15 Human Genes engineered in Experimental GMO Rice 17 GMO Crops require more Pesticides-Create Resistant Insects Visit us also at www.Blackherbals.com 18 Feature – Land, Life and Justice 29 Batwa Striving to cope with Life outside the Forest Hours: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday thru Friday 24 Featured – Indigenous Science and Traditional Knowledge Saturday by Appointment, Sundays – Closed 38 Feat’d – Researching African Indigenous Fruits & Vegetables 47 Malewa, The Traditional Gishu Treat 48 Feature - Portal Arrives to Cement British Imperial Agenda 61 Feature – Farm Pesticides linked to Deadly Skin Cancer 64 Prostate Cancer as an Environmental Disease 67 Feature – Are Pesticides Causing Parkinson Disease 72 Pesticides and Breast Cancer Risk 74 Feature–Africa: Benefits of Organic Agriculture - Continent 77 Ecological Understanding of Insects in Organic Farming 87 Know Thyself 88 Herbs of the Month – Prunus Africana & More -1- Traditional African Clinic – May 2012 C ont’d from page 1 – Support Farmers to Save their seeds to protect agricultural biodiversity for the future Indigenous Seed from GMO generation. This is very important because farmers need u nfortunate that the Government of Uganda seems to be seeds that are suitable for their local ecosystems, taste and fully embracing the introduction of genetically modified climate. c rops in Uganda without adequate sensitisation of its Through the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic citizens on the existing implications and risks to the Development, government should increase the budgetary agricultural sector. allocation to agriculture to 10 per cent as stipulated in the Biotechnology has for decades been used in activities Maputo Declaration and exploit the possibility of s uch as fermentation and preservation of food, baking establishing an agricultural bank that will explicitly focus a nd brewing beer. While I appreciate the new on farmers’ credit needs and hedge against risks like crop t echnologies being generated by research, farmers face failures. f ar more challenges that, if solved, can help improve Mr Mugisha is a campaign and advocacy officer- PELUM f ood security in the country. Such problems include the Uganda c offee wilt, banana bacterial wilt and the cassava brown http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/- s treak disease. /691232/1370494/-/cqqfm/-/index.html ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Y es, Uganda has a National Biosafety Policy (2008) in p lace and is also in the process of formulating a law to Let Us Preserve our Local o fficially introduce GMOs in the country. Surprisingly, t he absence of the biosafety law has not stopped Crop Varieties laboratory and field testing for GMO crops such as GM bananas in Kawanda, BT cotton in Serere, GM maize in Kasese (under Water Efficient Maize for Africa - WEMA project), and cassava, rice and sweet potatoes at N amulonge research institute. Government and some scientists argue that GMOs are the way to go to eradicate hunger in Uganda, reasoning that GMOs are drought-resistant, have high water retention qualities and are fast growing thus would increase food production for the growing population, reduce agricultural chemical and pesticide use, resulting in increased yields and enhanced or better nutrition. Ugandans should note that introduction of GMOs is Members of Cotefone Slow Food Community in Lwengo District likely to quicken the distortion of Uganda’s rich pick up their tools at the launch of their garden. PHOTO BY biodiversity and cause farmers to be dependent on MICHAEL J. SSALI external inputs for their livelihoods. Traditional farmers’ By Michael J. Ssali practices of saving and multiplying indigenous seeds will also suffer extinction, forcing farmers to buy fresh March 21, 2012 supply of seeds for every planting season from the On March 10 2012, I listened attentively to Mr Edward private sector. Mukiibi, the National Coordinator of Slow Food in Basing on what has happened to small-scale farmers Uganda, as he elaborated to a group of farmers not far living in countries where GMOs have been adopted, from my home, at Lukindu Village, Kisekka Sub-county, Ugandan small-scale farmers will have to sign licensing Lwengo District, the difference between food security and agreements with stipulations that ban re-use, re-sell, food sovereignty. saving, supplying or transfer of seeds to any person “Many leaders today put a lot of emphasis on food because seeds will be patented. In this way, security in our homes,” he said. “But food security in our multinational companies will have absolute monopoly homes alone is not what they should really advocate. If a over production and distribution of seeds thereby man has bags of rice and beans in his house, such a home undermining and compromising Uganda’s food may be described as food secure. But he could have stolen sovereignty. the rice and the beans! Certainly, thieves are bad for the I therefore recommend that government should be seen food security campaign since they actually contribute to to strongly support farmers to save their indigenous food insecurity. Continued on page 10 -2- Traditional African Clinic – May 2012 AFRIKAN SPIRITUALITY TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE Mugambe & Nakuya Walussi Mountain T raditional Agriculture is a system where people practice farming planting their own indigenous crops and animals. It The traditional shrine as a symbol of our cultural history is very important for people to practice agriculture traditionally for some reasons below: 1. Some crops are planted according to the traditional and Our fore fathers used to tell us that a pumpkin plant cultural norms of the people and if those norms are not has to be planted late in the evening. Reason, to properly followed, it can lead to low production if not no stop it from growing wide. It means you have production at all. blinded it from growing wide, since they were 2. Traditional agriculture helps people to keep food for longer usually planted mostly in banana plantation fields. pe riod than expected when it's still fresh compared to other You sit down for a while. Being planted late means m easures. it has no chance of setting off anywhere. A pumpkin plant is a female plant. The purpose for 3. If people do traditional agriculture, it can help to prevent sitting down is a spiritual command, taming it grow th e problem of artificial fertilizers as most of the crops don't in one place or a smaller area but with lots of plants. ne cessarily need such. It is only after the introduction of the Spiritually it is a spiritual sign on women telling so called modified crops which can't withstand harsh weather them not to move all over without bearing fruits but and other conditions, phasing away the crops which could to sit down in one place or in one marriage and bear withstand harsh weather. fruits, children inclusive. M ost people think that traditional agriculture is done It is not normal to plant a banana plantation without pr imitively. They are wrong. Traditional agriculture is being representation of both sexes, (male and female do ne and practiced using our own scientific measures. People banana plant). All these and so many others have think that our fore fathers were not informed and lacked spiritual meanings and purpose as to why God had a information about modern agriculture. It is we who failed to reason why He wants us to practice them for our upgrade from where we found our fore fathers. We decided to own good. When we fail to fulfill them we turn to im port other measures which have failed us because they pesticides. do n't match our ways, and most importantly the weather. Traditional agriculture saves land as more than Take for example in the Ganda culture a banana plantation three crops can be planted together. Traditional has its way of being planted from the first time the banana agriculture can be a solution to today and future tree was ever planted. Everyone knew all the measures to problems of our society. m ake it to last for more than 20 years both spiritually and sc ientifically. The same is true for yams, sweet potatoes, Traditional agriculture in African spirituality means ca ssava and others. it is the only way we can fights pests and we have been planting crops for some time which means we Traditional agriculture in relation to African spirituality have taken time to learn how to fight pests. There means a lot. Had we practiced farming traditionally, the need is a spiritual revelation that comes (not necessarily fo r artificial fertilizers would not be there because today what dreaming about something or having a vision) but a pe ople take to be pests are not pests; it’s our failure to farm spiritual understanding of saying "if I try this it can ac cording to our norms. help me in this situation, for example, before Some foods are not eaten or served together for example, pesticides, people used to sprinkle ash on sweet there a banana plant called "muziro nyama," meaning it's not potato plants to kill off caterpillars. The se rved with beef or it will do you harm in the long run. introduction of pesticides put our spiritual minds at rest [to sleep], and we stopped thinking about it -------------------------- spiritually. Managing Editor: Nakato Lewis PUBLISHER: KIWANUKA LEWIS Mugambe & Nakuya are Kabonas (Spiritualists) at Published monthly and freely by BHSN for the ATHR Clinic Walussi Mountain ☻☻☻☻☻☻ -3- Traditional African Clinic – May 2012 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic Volume 7, Isue 6 NEWSLETER May 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES "Industrialized Agriculture and Biotechnology: Threats to Sustainable Agriculture By Chee Yoke Ling Third World Network, Malaysia, May 2003 Sustainable agriculture, food security and food safety and poverty eradication in rural areas. are more urgent goals than ever as we enter the new Economic and technological strategies in the millennium. agricultural sector promoted by large donors and In the developing countries the agricultural sector has implementing agencies tend to be based upon a multiple roles: to help ensure food security, anchor rural neoliberal development model which believes the development, provide resources for the livelihood and integration of small farmers into the global adequate incomes of a majority of people, and to do this agricultural market is the best strategy for their without destroying the ecological base. There are thus human development. This macro-economic model two inextricably linked components, social and environ- disregards both the physical and biological mental to agricultural sustainability. boundaries of agro-ecosystems and the ecological quality of the human environment in general, as well In the industrialized countries, the structural flaws of as other aspects of human development such as the industrial food production system are rapidly emerging. education and health services in rural areas. Industrial agriculture, coupled with the impetus of Over the past two years alone, the European public has international trade and consumption patterns that confronted the health and environmental hazards of strain the planet’s natural resources, has also such a production system, both in crops and animal hus- destabilized the social and cultural fabric of farming bandry. At the same time, increasing evidence of ecological and health dangers from genetic communities. manipulation through modern biotechnologies is The impact has been even more dramatic for galvanizing deep public and scientific concern, starting Southern societies, particularly for indigenous in Europe, and spreading to Africa, Asia, Latin America peoples. In many societies, women who had critical and in recent months to North America, which is the roles in farm decision making and the conservation of largest producer of genetically modified crops. seeds, found themselves displaced when commercial Meanwhile, the ecological, social, health and economic monocultures were introduced. Moreover, women and children tend to be the main victims of the fallout of chemical-based agriculture continues to 1 malnutrition such mono-cultures have failed to solve, unfold despite the acknowledgement in Agenda 21 by and even contributed to. the world’s political leaders that such production systems were proving to be environ-mentally Thus the problem of agricultural production cannot unsustainable. be regarded only as a technological one; attention to social, cultural, political and economic issues that This crisis of industrial agriculture is not accidental. It account for the crisis is crucial. This is particularly is the systematic result of more than 40 years of the true today where the economic and political prevalent socio-economic system that promotes domination of the rural development agenda in both monocultures and the use of high-input technologies the global North as well as the South by certain large and agricultural practices. The underlying cause is the agribusiness corporations and large donors and predominance of agricultural policies based on implementing agencies has thrived at the expense of production targets rather than an integrated approach the interests of farm workers, small family farms, towards sustainable livelihoods, human development Continued on page 5 -4- Traditional African Clinic – May 2012 Continued from page 4 – Industrialized Agriculture and that are surviving the onslaught of globalization of Biotechnology: Threats to Sustainable Agriculture industrial agriculture. There is a significant increase in the North of organic/ecological farming reaching rural communities, the general public, wildlife and the 2 commercial scales that build on practices that had been environment. abandoned when monocultures and chemicals took over. Unfortunately, even as one chapter of Agenda 21 As scientific understanding about the holistic imperative acknowledged the unsustainability of chemical of agriculture becomes more interdisciplinary itself, there agriculture and the limits of the Green Revolution, the will be a mainstreaming of sustainable agriculture into same corporate interests that championed and benefited national and international policies on agriculture. The from the first “revolution” aggressively promoted the issue is not technique or experience, or even economic “Gene Revolution” as the panacea. Hence the fulsome viability, but rather the vested interests and promises of the biotechnology chapter in Agenda 21. policy/institutional obstacles set up by current trends of However, the new biotechnologies that involve genetic globalization. engineering or modification are among the most serious Therefore, the protection of, and in many cases the threats to sustainable agriculture and the future of transition to, sustainable agriculture systems can only farming communities, especially traditional farmers and take place if the underlying obstacles are overcome, and indigenous peoples. The Commission on Sustainable policies are re-directed to addressing poverty eradication Development in its third session called for a more and malnutrition itself. This requires the reshaping of the balanced assessment of the new biotechnologies, in light entire agricultural policy and food system, and a of new scientific evidence of hazards. Since then the case 3 realignment of the power relations which currently favor against these technologies has strengthened. transnational corporations, supported by a few key Fortunately, civil society’s increasing access to governments. Given the extent of globalization, priority information and awareness, accompanied by a growing must necessarily be given to international actions so that public scientific debate in the past year, provides a sustainable alternatives on the ground can be valuable opportunity for preventive actions before these strengthened and spread. technologies are diffused throughout the world. For A more radical transformation of agriculture is needed, example, the public condemnation in a number of one guided by the notion that ecological change in countries of Monsanto’s “Terminator Technology” which agriculture cannot be promoted without changing the was designed to suppress the reproductive ability of strategic goals in agriculture and comparable changes in seeds, led to bans by some governments and eventually to the social, political, cultural, and economic arenas that a withdrawal by Monsanto of commercialization plans, at also constrain agriculture. Change toward a more socially least for the time being. just, economically viable, and environmentally sound The two-year de facto moratorium on commercial agriculture will be the result of social movements in the planting of transgenic crops in the European Union is 4 rural sector in alliance with urban organizations. also a vital development, and public debates on this Chee Yoke Ling is a lawyer trained in international law, option for the future of agriculture is mounting all over environment and development issues, working with local the world The lessons from the chemical era, and communities. This article was taken from a paper, especially the Green Revolution, remind us that long term Choices in Agricultural Production Techniques, sustainability can only be achieved through a Consumption Patterns and Safety Regulations: Potentials comprehensive ecological, social and economic and Threats to Sustainable Agriculture, prepared by assessment of sustainable livelihoods, poverty eradication Chee Yoke Ling, Third World Network., Sustainable and human development in rural areas, and the Agriculture Dialogue Paper 1, 1/20/00, United Nations production systems which serve these goals. Otherwise, Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) 8, April any short term increase in yields will soon be offset by 2000. http://csdngo.igc.org/agriculture/agr_dia_Paper1.htm environmental, health and social costs, which eventually lead to a total net loss. Caution is even more urgent where Notes new technologies can cause irreparable damage to the 1 Agenda 21 is “a comprehensive plan of action to be taken ecosystem and human health, and the benefits have yet to globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United be fully assessed against the hazards and risks. Nations System, governments, and major groups in every area There is already a rich spectrum of technologies and in which human impacts on the environment.” Agenda 21was adopted by more than 178 Governments at the United Nations practices, even entire systems of sustainable agriculture, Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held alive and flourishing all over the world. Many are in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, June 1992. Continued on page 10 traditional or indigenous systems, especially in the South, -5- Traditional African Clinic – May 2012 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic Volume 7, Isue 6 NEWSLETER May 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES Un-Earthed: Is Monsanto's Glyphosate Destroying The Soil? BY Sayer Yi March 3, 2012 contamination of our food, air, rain and groundwater "The nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.” with this now ubiquitous chemical. Ever since Monsanto developed, marketed and patented the glyphosate molecule -- Roundup (®) herbicide’s active ingredient -- beginning in the early 70’s, a substantial and ever-growing portion of the earth’s arable surface has been transformed into an environmental and human health experiment, of unprecedented scale. Non-industry funded human research on glyphosate exposure is only now being performed, and the preliminary picture being painted isn't very pretty. Recent experimental research found that exceedingly small concentrations of glyphosate (450-fold lower than used in agricultural applications) induce DNA damage in human cells. Given these findings, it is likely that the widespread adoption of GM agriculture has and will continue to result in massive collateral health damage; the fall-out of which we are only beginning to understand, and --- Franklin Delano Roosevelt yet which we are all no doubt are already experiencing, mostly subclinically. In light of this quote, had Monsanto been around during Roosevelt’s time, he would not have taken too kindly to Roundup Ready (®) (glyphosate resistant) genetically their business strategy. After all, in 2007, 176 million modified (GM) plants (also created by Monsanto) now glblsy phoof saaten, 1 feixrstrte mcrelayt edt obxyic Mhoenrsbainctiod,e wkasn oswprna yeads cthoen stmituatrek e7t0 %to odfa yal.2l geTnheitsi cahlalys mroedqiufireedd f otohde pluasnets oonf onto the soil (and everything standing between it) in increasingly larger quantities of glyphosate-based this country, with untold environmental and human herbicides in the regions where these plants are health fallout. Untold, that is, until now... cultivated, making human exposures inevitable, and now simply a question of to what degree. Despite Roundup (Glyphosate): The Science Vs. Marketing manufacturers' claims, pest resistance to GM crops and 2011 was a watershed year, as far as scientific commonly used herbicides, are becoming a serious revelations into the nature and extent of the damage problem, and companies like Dow Agrosciences are associated with glyphosate-based herbicide usage and seizing the opportunity with newly created GM crops exposure is concerned. An accumulating body of peer- that are 'three herbicide" resistant, requiring the future reviewed and published research now indicates use of even more toxic combinations and greater glyphosate may be contributing to several dozen quantities of herbicides in America's farmlands, adverse health effects in exposed populations. And as including 2,4 D, a chemical once used in Agent Orange. we shall see, human exposure is as universal as is the Continued on page 7 -6- Traditional African Clinic – May 2012 C ontinued from page 6 – Un-Earthed: Is Monsanto's during this process of GM farming. It takes G lyphosate Destroying The Soil? approximately 1,000 years for the earth to produce (on its own) a 2.5 inch thick layer of fertile soil. And yet, it may take only a single application of Roundup to irreversibly alter the microbial populations within the soil -- much in the same way that a single round of antibiotics may seriously and irreversibly alter your gut flora for the rest of your life. New Research: Roundup Destroying Beneficial Soil & Food Organisms New research published in the journal Current Microbiology indicates that Roundup herbicide (®) is having a negative impact on the microbiodiversity of the soil, including microorganisms of food interest, and specifically those found in raw and fermented foods. Glyphosate is now contaminating groundwater in vast Microbiodiversity is essential for the global health of our s ubterranean stretches in areas directly and indirectly planet. The metabolic activity of microorganisms e xposed to the application of this agrichemical; a finding participate quite literally “at the root” of the nitrogen, t hat runs contrary to manufacturer’s claims that g lyphosate is readily "biodegradable" and even “makes phosphate, oxygen and carbon cycles, and are therefore indispensable for the health of the entire biosphere. They the soil cleaner," which it does not. Moreover, one 2011 are also the most numerous inhabitants in the web of life. study found glyphosate in 60-100% of all US air and rain samples tested, indicating that glyphosate pollution There are an estimated 6 x 10 to the 30th power and exposure is now omnipresent in the regions within (6000000000000000000000000000000) bacterial cells which it is applied. on the planet, and soil microrganisms represent about 50% of the total biodiversity in terms of numbers of It is one thing to know that when you consume GM food, species. Soil organisms include fungi, and the mycellium you are ingesting glyphosate residues (and secondary which is technically the largest organism in the world, chemical metabolites) -- at least, as a consumer you and have a special importance to the health of this planet. always have a choice (economics permitting) of buying explicitly labeled non-GMO, certified organic food. It is According to mycologist Paul Stamets, the mycellium a nother thing to know that simply engaging in necessary may in fact be the "Earth's natural internet," a means b iological functions, such as breathing or consuming through which species unrelated in genetic and w ater, will result in exposure to albeit minute, and yet geographic time and space may communicate with one n onetheless toxicologically relevant and measurable another, effectively acting like a neural network within c oncentrations of this chemical. Where, then, do we draw the biosphere. These microorganisms (and especially the line? Is this a form of chemical assault, or simply fungi, to which we are more closely related than bacteria) collateral damage in the agricultural war against pests? also contain information buried deep within their DNA on the evolution of the tree of life; if destroyed, O ne thing is for sure: Roundup-ready plants are, through t heir inherent design, destroying the biodiversity upon undiscovered parts of ourselves will no doubt also perish. which our existence depends. Monoculturing itself, as the This new study found that adverse changes in selected name implies, involves selecting one plant, or a few food microorganisms, including death and growth chosen “ones,” out of the tens of thousands that once inhibition, were observed at lower concentrations of occupied a pre-agricultural habitat, and renaming all Roundup exposure than those recommended in other non-target plants as “other” or “weeds,” requiring agriculture. Researchers also confirmed previous findings their destruction. Monoculturing and genetic engineering that adjuvants or so-called “inactive” ingredients in have transformed what were once unimaginably Roundup formulations were, in some cases, more toxic biodiverse and vast habitats, into agrichemical-saturated than the active ingredient itself, namely, glyphosate. wastelands, with half-living, chemically-assaulted GM These findings may explain why certain species of plants just holding on for dear life by a human-held Lactobacillus bulgaricus, used in milk production, such string, until harvest time. as the subspecies Lactobacillus cremoris, have been And yet, the more fundamental and unrecoverable difficult to isolate from the dairy environment in some problem may be what has happened to the soil itself geographic areas. Continued on page 11 -7- Traditional African Clinic May 2012 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic Volume 7, Isue 6 NEWSLETER May 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES Cancer in Africa: Fighting a Nameless Enemy By Kate Kelland Reuters, May 1, 2012 ACCRA, Ghana — In Emanuel Adu's language, Twi, By 2030, according to predictions from the World Health people call the skin cancer that is invading his cheek Organization (WHO), 70 percent of the world's cancer and nose "sasabro." It means a disease that eats away at burden will be in poor countries, a prediction Kerr says you. leaves most lay people, and even many doctors, "utterly astonished." T h e 73-year-old former cocoa farmer has come to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, miles from his "They think cancer is a disease of the wealthy. But the home, to be treated with one of the two radiotherapy reality is that, in part because of success in tackling machines in Ghana. infectious diseases, Africans are living longer. It's almost "I had heavy bleeding and discharge from my nose. The a booby prize that they're now living long enough to get cancer." doctor told it me was cancer, a cancer called melanoma, but I had not heard those words before," he explains in For many women in Africa, that means diseases like the consulting room. breast and cervical cancer have become common causes Most of Africa's around 2,000 languages have no word of death before their victims have begun to learn about for cancer. The common perception in both developing them, let alone find words for them. and developed countries is that it's a disease of the A study published in 2011 found that since 1980 new wealthy world, where high-fat, processed-food diets, cervical cancer case numbers and deaths have dropped alcohol, smoking and sedentary lifestyles fuel tumor substantially in rich countries, but increased dramatically growth. in Africa and other poor regions. Overall, 76 percent of Yet Adu's is one of an estimated one million new new cervical cancer cases are in developing regions, and cancer cases sub-Saharan Africa will see this year - a sub-Saharan Africa already has 22 percent of all cervical number predicted to double to 2 million a year in the cancer cases worldwide. next decade. The sa me research found that some poorer countries saw How can a continent hope to diagnose and treat, let a rise in breast cancer cases of more than 7.5 percent a alone fight to prevent a disease that has no name? year over the 30 year period studied -- more than twice the global rate. Cancer kills the poor, too It's a question David Kerr has been struggling with for 'Explosion of cancer' Such data come as no surprise to Verna Vanderpuye, a several years. A cancer specialist based at Britain's Oxford University and former president of the clinical oncologist and radiotherapy consultant at the European Society of Medical Oncology, Kerr set up the Korle Bu hospital where Adu will come for his treatment charity AfrOx in 2007 to help African countries seek to every day for the next two weeks. prevent and control cancer. "There's an explosion of cancer here," she said in an interview in her overrun consulting room. "There have been some marvelously effective campaigns around AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and Unlike the diseases she is trained to treat, the oncologist malaria, and of course infectious diseases like those are is a rare thing in Ghana. She is one of only six trained terribly important," he said in an interview. "But cancer doctors who serve a country of 24 million people. already there are more deaths in the world from cancer Good quality data are hard to come by, but Vanderpuye than from AIDS, TB and malaria combined." Continued on page 9 -8- Traditional African Clinic May 2012 Continued from page 2– Cancer in Africa: Fighting a talk about it, look for it and recognize it to start fighting Nameless Enemy against it. Even among the young and educated, cancer is often taboo. says the two main hospitals equipped to treat cancer - hers and another further north in Ghana's second city of "They don't want to use the C-word," says Vanderpuye. Kumasi -- are seeing between 5,000 and 7,000 new "That's also one of the main reasons why someone wouldn't cancer patients a year. want to come here - because it means she has ‘the C'. "That's just the tip of the iceberg. That's only those who 'Humongous, foul-smelling tumors' actually come to the health facilities. We don't really In the chemotherapy ward at Korle Bu, oncology nurse know what's really happening across the country," she Juliana Tagoe, explains why patients often don't want to says. talk about cancer. It seems a drastic situation. But Ghana has come a long Many people see the disease as a spiritual punishment, she way. Until 2007, there were no oncologists at all - and says. "They think someone has done wrong and this is the that's still the case in some neighboring countries. Sierra effect - God is punishing them. They feel stigmatized." Leone, for example, has more than 6 million people and In rural communities where spiritual and tribal leaders are no cancer doctors. revered, the use of prayer, ritual and herbal remedies is "Countries in the region like Sierra Leone, Togo, Guinea common. Awuah-Darko says witch doctors tell patients have absolutely nothing in terms of cancer care," said with tumors to "treat it like a boil, and just put some herbs Kerr. "That means Ghana's six or so oncologists have to on it." Others are told simply to pray for it to be taken serve neighboring countries as well." away. The result is that the reality for many in Africa is that a In the months or years that intervene, the tumors spread and cancer diagnosis means a painful and distressing death. grow to sizes barely seen by doctors in developed countries. The overwhelming number of cases and the paucity of Kerr talks of patients in Africa with tumors that protrude funds, doctors and treatment mean it's difficult to know through the breast or encircle the whole chest, while where to start, Kerr says. But cancer experts -- foreign Vanderpuye describes patients with "humongous, foul- and African -- and patients and advocacy groups say smelling tumors" she has little hope of treating. what's needed first is greater awareness. Infections Knowing the enemy Both Kerr and Corey Casper, who runs the Uganda Ellen Awuah-Darko is doing what she can. Program on Cancer and Infectious Disease associated with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, say The 75-year-old founder of the Accra-based Jead another focus of efforts to tackle this looming cancer Foundation for breast cancer says her own experience - epidemic is to try to prevent the cancers caused by of finding a lump and ending up paying tens of infections. thousands of dollars to be treated in the United States - made her to try force change. While many cancers are linked to lifestyle factors such as unhealthy diets and smoking, a large number - particularly "In America I had to put down $70,000 before they'd in Africa - are caused by infections likes hepatitis B and C, even talk to me," she said. "I was lucky, I could afford it which cause liver cancer, and the human papillomavirus after my husband died and left me money, but I thought (HPV) that causes almost all cervical cancers. 'why should I get treatment when others can't'." In wealthy countries, having hepatitis vaccines as part of Now, every Wednesday, Awuah-Darko goes with routine childhood immunization programs, and introducing healthcare workers into communities in the Eastern national campaigns programs with new HPV vaccines from Region of Ghana to offer women breast screening. It's drug makers Merck and GlaxoSmithKline has brought rates not the high-tech mammogram or ultrasound scan of liver and cervical cancer down significantly. women in wealthy countries are used to, but a simple breast examination and a lesson in how to self-check. If such nationwide HPV vaccine campaigns could be introduced in Africa, experts say, the effect on rates of "Early detection can save your life. I want everybody to death and disease could be dramatic. Global health groups know that. It's not something people should be ashamed are working with drug makers on securing a discounted of or embarrassed about," she said. price for HPV shots for poor countries, but getting them to But she and the handful of cancer specialists are fighting Africa could take years. deep cultural resistance -- not only to the idea that Continued on page 10 cancer affects people here, but also to the idea they must -9- Traditional African Clinic May 2012 Continued from page 9– Cancer in Africa: Fighting a could be some kind of green vegetable, or some type of Nameless Enemy bean, which you can no longer find in any of the markets Akosua -- a name meaning "Sunday" that this patient gives now and is not being grown any more by your farmers. instead of her real name -- has no concept yet of how an External influences injection made by a Western pharmaceutical company We must ask, what really could have happened? We seem could have prevented the cancer spreading inside her. to be more bent on preserving our music, our art, our The 48-year-old farmer has cervical cancer and has dress, and other aspects of our culture than on our suffered with a lot of pain and bleeding, but for now the agricultural heritage. It is possible that a lot of our fact that she's come to the hospital and is seeing an traditional food crops are disappearing because we are no oncologist is foreign territory enough. longer participating fully in the production of our own food or because our farming practices have changed due "But I'm not afraid," she says. "I've been seen by the doctor to external influences like the use of heavy machines and now. I know I am in the right place to get the right mindless use of agro-chemicals. We seem to see more treatment." promotion of carrots, cabbages, spinaches, and other such http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47245512/ns/health- vegetables than of our traditional ones. cancer/#.T6z2p1LheQJ ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Mukiibi was at Lukindu Village to launch a Slow Food community garden at the home of Mr John Ssentongo to Continued from page 2– Let us Preserve our Local be known as Cotefone Community Garden. It was also Food Crop Varieties the launch of some other seven Slow Food community gardens in the Masaka region. But do such leaders know that we have food thieves?” Slow Food was founded in 1986 by an Italian food In his opinion, the point to emphasise should be food activist, Carlo Petrini. Its prime objective was to support sovereignty. The household should grow its own food or and defend good food, its enjoyment, and a slow pace of keep its own livestock and poultry and have enough of life. It also teaches the importance of good nutrition in these all the time. Food grown in a particular place is promoting the quality of life. sovereign to that place and to its people. Each Slow Food community garden is owned by about 30 When you sit down to enjoy a meal of matooke and beans, households and serves as a demonstration garden where that meal is tastier if you know something about its history all the farmers meet regularly to share knowledge and and if you were part of that history. You could probably innovations. Found across the world, Slow Food remember the moments you spent clearing the garden of all members do not subscribe to the idea of fast foods--those the weeds, the entire process of ground preparation, the quickly prepared foods in restaurants or in some homes sowing of the bean seeds, the weeding, and finally the like fries or hamburgers. Rather they promote traditional harvesting. food crops grown locally, in the home and traditionally It is so gratifying having such beans on your plate, getting prepared. them into your mouth, and enjoying their taste before They prefer eating the food whose story they can tell-- swallowing them. You could remember the actual place in when it was planted, where it was grown, when it was your banana garden where the matooke on the plate before harvested, who cooked it and how it was cooked. They you came from. Then, you would finally associate its taste are a network of farmers, producers, and food to that place. communities who believe in sustainable agriculture that The truth is that many matooke growers know which part respects the environment and uses natural resources of their gardens produces the best matooke and it is the carefully. They are working to rediscover and promote place they normally go to when they want to prepare a local foods, to save regional identities and their local good meal of matooke. They know which matooke goes cultures and traditions. best with fish, which matooke goes best with beans, and http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/- which one is best with goat’s meat and where in their /691232/1370494/-/cqqfm/-/index.html garden to go to get the desired bunch. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Do you remember a traditional food crop in your home area that everyone enjoyed eating many years ago but is now endangered, slowly disappearing, or even extinct? It could be a type of mushroom, it could be a root crop, it -10- Traditional African Clinic May 2012

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