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that the collecting activity be sensitive to rare and endangered species. 

 The collected plant material will be returned to the Garden where 

 samples are extracted; the extracts are then provided to Pfizer. 



As with all good collaborations, both parties benefit. Pfizer gets access 

 to the botanical expertise of the Garden botanists and the opportunity to 

 explore the medicinal potential of extracts from a diverse array of plants. 

 While on collecting trips, the Garden personnel are contributing to a 

 survey of the flora of the United States, documenting the locations of 

 the plant species they encounter. In addition, the Garden is able to use 

 the plant material and extracts for educational purposes. 



Endangered Species Act (ESA) 



The Subcommittee has requested Pfizer's views on the adequacy of the 

 ESA to provide for the long-term conservation of listed plant species. 

 We would like to preface those comments with a recent experience we 

 had in research in higher plant natural products. An extract from a 

 temperate zone plant showed biological activity in one of our assays. As 

 a next logical step, extracts from closely related species were then 

 tested. To our surprise, the extracts from the related species were 

 completely inactive. Analysis of the extracts from both the active, initial 

 species tested and the inactive, related species revealed that the activity 

 could be attributed to what is probably a single biological step unique to 

 the initial plant species. The inference that can be drawn from this 

 observation is that a single gene difference was responsible for the 

 activity we detected in our assay. Although it is far too early to say 

 whether this active compound will ever become a pharmaceutical 

 candidate, it is sobering to contemplate such subtle differences resulted 

 in an active compound. The ESA, intended for the protection of 



