PLANT PATENT PITS SCIENTISTS AGAINST INDIAN ACTIVISTS

QUITO, ECUADOR This drug is for the doctor, not the patient. It's potent
enough to stir threats, shut down bioprospecting and end U.S. aid to South
American Indians.

The drug is named ayahuasca and it looks like any bushy tree. But to
Amazonian tribes, it is a sacred hallucinogen whose name translates to
"vine of the soul."

Using the bark from ayahuasca (pronounced eye-uh-WAHS-cuh), shamans concoct
a potion that propels them into a world inhabited by spirits, alongside the
forces of sickness and death, they say.

It's also popular with middle-age North Americans seeking a reprise of
their psychedelic years and among young Europeans hunting thrills in South
America.

Twelve years ago, California scientist and entrepreneur Loren Miller
founded the International Plant Medicine Corp. and took out a U.S. patent
on a variety of ayahuasca. He started testing it for uses in psychotherapy
and treating cancer. A few years ago, indigenous leaders learned of the
patent, and relations between plant collectors and South American tribes
have been headed downhill since.

"It has become a symbol of gringos ripping off the Indians," said David
Neill, a Missouri Botanical Garden staff member in Ecuador.

To outraged Indian activists, the patent amounts to a violation of a sacred
tradition. Word spread that healers wanting to use ayahuasca would need
Miller's permission, which is untrue. In the highly charged atmosphere
since, several Amazon nations have refused new permits for bioprospecting.

Miller was declared "an enemy of indigenous peoples" by an organization
called COICA, which stands for Coordinating Body for Indigenous
Organizations of the Amazon Basin. The group banned Miller and his
associates from the region and warned in a statement in 1996 that tribes
"will not be responsible for the consequences to their physical safety."

Miller took those words as a death threat, and the U.S. Embassy in Quito
regarded it seriously enough to issue a statement earlier this year calling
the warning "a repugnant illegal action." The Inter-American Foundation, a
U.S. government agency, cut off aid to COICA this year; the group had
received $500,000 up to now.

The tribes won't back down. A COICA spokeswoman said last week that
reactions in Amazonian lands "are more and more strong" against the patent.
The group may challenge its legality.

Miller, 49, a pharmacologist by training, declined to be interviewed,
saying that he fears for his life. Tests have found no properties in
ayahuasca suitable for drug development, and the patent that has changed
the tenor of bioprospecting in Latin America sits in a drawer.