Not solely does he play a really me...

Not solely does he play a really mean bass fiddle, Dr Duke is indisputably the world's top [i]connoisseur[/i] on medicinal plants. In this issue, we are pleased and grand to inaugurate the "Dr. Duke's Herb-A-Day" round pillar in the pages of Better Nutrition.

Dr Duke's interest in plants tend hitherwards from his mother, who "lov plants and raised me to regard with affection them as she did," he says. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Duke's poking around with plants started in the forests and fields near Birmingham.

In the late 1950 as Duke finished his PhD coursework in botany at the University of North Carolina subordinate to a National Science Foundation grant, he went forward a plant-hunting expedition to Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

In 1961 he was proffered an opportunity to travel to the remotest region of the Panamanian brake On Duke's first night in a palm-thatched shack, a immense iguana dropped from the rafters "right onto me almost scaring me to death," he recalls. Nevertheless, his fear was momentary, and Duke would make many trips back to Panama, in addition to work at the prestigious Missouri Botanical Garden.

In 1963 he began his extended and distinguished Federal career at the USDA (US Department of Agriculture), starting with the USDA's Agriculture Research Station, in Beltsville. In 1977 Duke was appointed chief of the USDA's Medicinal Plant Laboratory. This lab's mission was to aggregate "medicinal plants from around the world for the cancer screening program being run" between the USDA and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

This cancer-screening program would eventually analyze 10 percent of the world's known plant species(!) for anti-tumor (anti-cancer) powers and laid the groundwork for the disentanglement of several natural-derived "chemo" medicines, including Taxol from the yew tree which is used to fight breast and ovarian cancers.

In 1995 Duke retired from the USDA in order to focus more in succession his environmental advocacy, including a discerning involvement with the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research (ACEER). He's also been able to impound some wonderful herb books, including: The undecayed Pharmacy (1997) and Dr. Duke's Essential Herbs (1999)

To give you a faculty of perception of where Dr. Duke's heart is, here is part of his dedication from The blooming Pharmacy: "This [...] is single in kind more flower for Momma, Martha Truss Duke (deceased 1995) who for at least 66 of her 98 years encouraged my be pleased with of forests and flowers. May her spirit be lost with the pine forests of the r hills of Alabama."

May Dr Duke's great wisdom, humor and passion give us all a new sometimes provocative, always fascinating perspective in succession herbs and all healing things which make improvement Welcome aboard!

In advantageous health,

James Gormley

James Gormley has serv as a managing editor for brace of the most respected medical journals in the U and as a social sciences/medical editor in work publishing. His award-winning articles overspread important issues, keeping readers informed of the latest breakthroughs in nutritional approaches to optimal health and ongoing research into vitamins, botanicals, minerals, and other supplements

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