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iii Indigenous Knowledge Applications for Livestock Care Proceedings of a National Workshop 14 - 17 September 2004 Parts of this report may be reproduced with due acknowledement © Anthra, 2006 Anthra A-21, Sainikpuri Secunderabad 500094 Andhra Pradesh, India [email protected] F, Lantana Gardens NDA Road, Bavdhan Pune, Maharashtra, India [email protected] www.anthra.org Printed by: Charitha Impressions Azamabad Hyderbad Contents Preface i Introduction 1 Executive Summary 3 Panels Indigenous Knowledge and Animal Health(IKAH) - Anthra Research Findings 8 Need for Validation and Validation Methods 28 Privatization of Health Care Systems/Knowledge 42 Introducing Ethno-veterinary Courses in the College Curriculum 80 Biopatents and Biopiracy 94 Medicine Making 134 List of Contributors 145 Workshop Programme 147 Annexures IKAH Presentation 151 Panelists Power Point Presentations and Technical Papers 183 Resolution on Introducing Ethno-veterinary Courses into Undergraduate Curriculum 265 i Preface This document presents the proceedings of the workshop entitled Indigenous Knowledge Applications for Livestock Care held at the National Insurance Academy campus, Pune, from 14th to 17th September 2004. The purpose of the workshop was to share the findings of the IKAH1 project with a larger group of veterinarians, scientists, academics, development workers and professionals. An equally important objective was to explore concerns and initiate debate on issues of intellectual property rights (IPRs), biodiversity and benefit sharing in the larger context of rapid globalization and privatization. The workshop participants came from a wide range of disciplines and included veterinarians, botanists, researchers and academics/academicians, health practitioners, activists, management professionals and lawyers. Each presenter had a different style which is evident in the way the presentations have been included in these proceedings. In reporting the proceedings we have tried to maintain the logical continuity and structure of each presentation, and included the questions posed by other participants and the ensuing discussions. The original power point/overhead presentations are included in the appendixes. These proceedings assume greater importance even as India has signed the Patents Bill and many critical acts and bills pertaining to people’s rights over their natural resources, which are being fiercely debated at national and international levels. The workshop itself touched key areas of concern, namely the appropriateness and validation of indigenous knowledge, delivery of health care services, introduction of indigenous knowledge in the veterinary curriculum, and the burning issue of patents and IPRs. We sincerely hope readers will find the discussions interesting and explore these issues further in their own spheres of work. 1 IKAH, Indigenous Knowledge in Animal Health was a project implemented by Anthra between the years 1996 –2002. The project was implemented in three districts each of the states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, and largely consisted of documenting , validating and disseminating the best and most valuable practices in the field of animal health care. ii PREFACE A welcome but unintended consequence of the workshop was the passing of a resolution urging the Veterinary Council of India to recommend certain changes in the curricula structure which would bridge the gap between university students, on one hand, and the owners of livestock, on the other. This marked the high point of the workshop as this issue was presented before the council of deans at their meeting in Pantnagar, Uttar Pradesh, on 25th September 2004. The final session on medicine making was a practical session where people learnt and shared medicine-making techniques from each other. Healers, animal health workers, veterinarians, botanists, students and NGOs participated in this session. We have tried to share some of the experiences and thoughts from this session in the best way possible. This workshop happened because of the support we received from various quarters and we gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Prof. Vinod Ahuja, Dr. Jayvir Anjaria, Dr. Chandana Barua, Dr. Bhamburkar, Ms. Shalini Bhutani, Mr. C. R. Bijoy, Mr. Vishwas Deviah, Dr. B. N. Dhawan, Prof. Madhav Gadgil, Dr. J. K. Malik, Ms. Philomena, Dr. Imrana Qadeer, Dr. Rama Kumar and Dr. D. Swaroop to the workshop sessions. We are also extremely grateful to Dr. Anjaria, Mr. Vivek Broome, Dr. Sanjay Dakore, Mr. Pramod Pokharkar and Dr. Sadekar for their contributions to the medicine-making session; Dr. Mishra, Mr. Jog and others at NIA for their help, hospitality and the excellent services provided; Mr. Jagannath Majhi and Dr. Ramesh for help with the documentation. Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to SDC, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, specifically Mr. Hermann Mulder, Mr. Felix Bachmann and Ms. Lucy Maarse for supporting the IKAH project, the workshop, and providing support for this publication. Anthra Team Introduction 1 Introduction Limited and expensive veterinary health care is a major cause of low productivity of livestock, especially in rural areas. Poor farmers and pastoralists are affected significantly, as they do not have the means to access expensive or sophisticated veterinary care. On the other hand, there is a vast repertoire of indigenous knowledge based on ethno-veterinary and management practices, which has the potential to address some of the health care problems on a local and low-cost basis. The major objective of the workshop on Indigenous Knowledge Applications for Livestock Care, held in Pune in September 2004, was to share the research findings of Anthra’s IKAH (Indigenous Knowledge in Animal Health) project, as well as discuss key issues and questions which emerged from the research process. These were: questions on validation of indigenous knowledge (IK) and the process of validation; IK and the privatization of livestock health care systems; inclusion of traditional knowledge systems in existing veterinary curriculum; and privatizing knowledge— bio-patents, bio-piracy and intellectual property rights. Workshop structure The key areas identified for the workshop were: 1. Validation of indigenous knowledge and the process of validation 2. Livestock delivery service; privatization of health care systems/knowledge 3. Inclusion of traditional knowledge systems/ethno-veterinary knowledge in existing veterinary curricula 4. Bio-patents, bio-piracy and intellectual property rights Practical session 5. Identification of medicinal plants and medicine making 2 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND ANIMAL HEALTH CARE Choice of panelists Anthra’s IKAH research touched many fields besides veterinary science. Therefore we felt it was necessary to bring together at this workshop people from different disciplines, and who held diverse views and had different points of view. We felt this would stimulate discussion as well as encourage creative thinking. Practical session on medicine making The medicine-making session was an interactive one where healers, pharmacologists, students of veterinary science, and animal health workers came together. Healers from the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh shared their knowledge and concerns. The groups spent time discussing plants and their importance, beliefs and traditions. Subsequently senior veterinarians Dr. Anjaria and Dr. Sadekar, with the help of Anthra staff, animal health workers and Dr. Sanjay Dakore of ADS, Kashele, Maharashtra - taught medicine making to the participant groups. Executive Summary 3 Executive Summary The presentation by Anthra was followed by Panel Presentations. Panel on Need for Validation and Validation Methods Dr. Jayvir Anjaria in his presentation spoke about alternative methods of validation. He expressed his dismay over the fact that despite many years of research by premier institutions, barely a handful of drugs were available which could be safely used by the public. He discussed different methods of validation which would vary depending on type of drug and disease. He made note of Anthra’s method of validation which he termed “Anubhava siddha chikitsa” or experiential empirical validation. Dr. B. N. Dhawan stressed the need for initial clinical validation and carefully designed research studies. Priority areas of research should provide a rationale for continued usage of traditional remedies to treat disease conditions, with an emphasis on evolving standardized dosage. Conventional approaches were expensive, and using these it could take anywhere from 12 to 30 years to develop a single product. Today the more favoured approach was called ward to laboratory. This involved random biological screening, programmed screening based on traditional use, specialized tests based on chemical structure, semi-synthetic derivatives to optimize activity, and initial clinical trials of select traditional medicines. Dr. J. K Malik made a presentation on the techniques needed to validate indigenous plant preparations and also highlighted some of the gaps and weaknesses of different protocols, such as lack of recognition of active principle, absence of reliable data from controlled experiment, and absence of data on interactions with food and synthetic drugs. He stressed the need for better research involving a well-coordinated and multi- disciplinary approach as well as the need for the regulation of quality and standardization of processes while preparing drugs.