Singapore's Biodiversity Could Provide Potential Cures
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08. 1.07
Photo credit: Ashley Ringrose
With a paltry 5 percent of its land officially allocated to nature—and that's including golf courses—Singapore isn't exactly heralded as a hotbed of biodiversity. A local drug-discovery company, however, begs to differ.
MerLion Pharmaceuticals, backed by the National Parks Board, plans to tap into the island-nation's plants, animals, and microorganisms as potential sources of new drugs. While the commercial exploitation of genetic resources is a sore point of contention among many indigenous cultures, Singapore has proven far savvier—royalties from any successfully produced drug will be disbursed to the nation, as well. ::Channel NewsAsia
See also: ::Atmospheric Pollution Ads from Singapore, ::Singapore to Host Eco-Products Fair, and ::We'll believe it when we see it Dept: Landfill Island as Eco-Tourist Site
I must say that as a Singaporean, i've never heard of this company. And to be honest i doubt this will do anything to prevent the continuing environmental degradation we're experiencing.
Oh yes, if including golf courses wasn't bad enough, a good 35% of our "Allocated nature space" is military training arounds and airbases.