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GLOBAL CHALLENGES

Discovering Drugs in Rainforest

Aired March 21, 2004 - 16:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DALJIT DHALIWAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This week on GLOBAL CHALLENGES, mixing it up, trying to cook up a cure for cancer and AIDS using some basic ingredients. Soaking it up, a bright idea that gives people even more than they bargained for. And cleaning it up, one of Europe's top resorts gives pollution the cold shoulder.
Hello and welcome to GLOBAL CHALLENGES. This time we are in the magnificent Swiss Alps, where the slopes aren't only white, they're green as well. We're going to have more on that a little later on in the program, but first we want to take you on a journey of discovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voiceover): In our last edition we showed you how plants from the rainforest are collected for medical research. There's hope that the samples could one day help find a cure for cancer or for AIDS. Here's part two of that report.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These four bottles are HIV pills and I take them all twice a day. And these two are for depression and anxiety. I take these five times a day.

FEMI OKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Justin has a lot on his plate. In 1999 he was diagnosed as being HIV positive, and now to fight the deadly disease attacking his immune system he takes drugs to keep himself alive.

When I talked to Justin, he was having a good day, but the side effects for taking HIV medicine can cause nausea, diarrhea, fatigue and serious life-threatening illnesses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because so much of my day is focused on either being sick or avoiding being sick or remembering to take this drug or that drug or did I eat at the right time before I took it. You know, just so much of my time is focused on things that most people have never even thought about.

OKE: The people here at the National Cancer Institute just outside of Washington, D.C. are thinking about it. Scientists are working to develop better drugs and cures for diseases like AIDS and cancer.

Dr. Gordon Kriest (ph) is head of the Natural Products Branch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nature provides what we call the leads and then these can be further refined to produce hopefully drugs that could be effective and used in many diseases.

OKE: Tracking down the leads is a massive global effort. Researches in the South Pacific send sea specimens to be analyzed.

Plant samples from Madagascar are dried, bagged and bar-coded, ready to be tested. Wherever the samples come from, the first stop is always this bank of freezers, the Natural Products Repository, a 200,000 strong collection of international natural products kept in order using an impressive computer system.

But not everything at the National Cancer Institute is so high tech. Breaking down the leaf samples involves a hammer and a butcher's meat- grinder comes in handy too. Plants are ground up into fine dust and soaked in solvents. What's left behind are mixtures of thousands of natural compounds. But at this stage, nobody knows if these vials contain a cancer cure, a powerful new anti-viral medicine or just plant juice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the top shelf I have a prostate line, a lung cancer line, and on the next two shelves I have six leukemia lines.

OKE: In the screening laboratory, live human cancer cells are used to test compounds. The cells, which look rather like fingerprint smudges, are put into clear plates. A purple dye is added, making them easier to spot.

After two days, if the cancer cells have been destroyed, the plate is clear. A deep stain left behind means the cancer cells have survived and the compound probably isn't a cancer killer.

For researcher Trish Ramsey (ph), washing the plates is one of the best parts of her job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The thing is, when I am washing plates and I see this come off the plate washer and I say, wow, there's hardly any cells left there, that's exciting because that's a really active drug. Hopefully we'll retest it, it will go into clinical trials and it will help somebody.

OKE: About (AUDIO GAP) percent of everything tested shows some potential. One drug originally screened here is now (AUDIO GAP) with HIV patients. It was discovered in the rainforest of Southeast Asia.

In 1988, a small sample of leaves and twigs that had been (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Malaysia, was found to have anti-HIV properties. Chemist from a drug company in Chicago were given a tiny amount of plant extract to work with. They made a drug called Calanolide A.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calanolide A is very unique relative to all the other drugs that are on the market because it attacks virus that can't be attacked by other drugs.

OKE: Making the drug was a challenge. The chemists only had 11 milligrams of original plant material. When collectors returned to Malaysia to get a bigger sample, the tree had been cut down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going to be able to discover these compounds in a laboratory. Plants have evolved these substances over millions of years. As chemists, we can't get to that level of complexity today.

OKE: The disappearing tree incident galvanized the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) state government into action. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) trees are being cultivated and the government sponsors rainforest drug development. Investment and care of the rainforest now could result in huge benefits for Malaysia in the future. And a better chance that one day people like Justin won't have such a bitter pill to swallow.

Femi Oke, for GLOBAL CHALLENGES.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DHALIWAL: In a moment we'll take you over the hills, not too far away, where inspiration comes not from the snow but the sun.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DHALIWAL Welcome back to the program.

Now architects aren't usually known for their sunny disposition, but one in particular in neighboring Germany has plenty to smile about.

Chris Burns picks up the story.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Here the sun's rays have been lapped up for centuries by photosynthesis in the hillside vineyards. And now by (UNINTELLIGIBLE) cells in a solar village down below, a village that produces more electricity than it uses.

(on camera): Welcome to the Black Forest city of Hiburg (ph), where sun power is not only earth-friendly, it's a money-making opportunity and a way of life.

(voiceover): Award-winning solar architect Hul Disch (ph) has built nearly 50 apartments and a concept house in the past four years, and he's far from finished.

European Union officials call him a pioneer with cutting edge technology.

Though the architecture of the apartments is simple, buyers can pick the color and trim, inside and out.

"Isn't this a bit idealistic, this sort of concept?" I ask.

"Yes, it is not only idealistic, it is economical," he says. "I have no extra charges here. They rise with other apartments while here I have no more extra charges. On the contrary, here I have income. I get money."

Up to 500 euros, or about $600 a month, he says. Money from the local power company that's required by German law to buy surplus power from the home owners.

That money is partly offset by charges for central heating. The residents say good insulation keeps those costs minimal. Also under construction, Disch's (ph) so-called solar ship, with penthouse apartments on top, offices and shops below.

We climb up to the top to get a bird's eye full of Disch's (ph) village, a project he hopes could help change the world to one that runs on renewable energy.

"We're on the winning path," he says. "The sun will succeed, there's no question. While oil, gas, uranium, these are finite."

Disch (ph) was part of the 60's generation and a protest movement that wanted a different world, one without nuclear power, especially in their backyard. Disch (ph) says protests in Hiburg (ph) successfully blocked constructions of a nuclear plant in the area.

"But back then, we also thought if we're against that, what are we for? What do we want?" he says.

The result, a strong Hiburg (ph) eco-movement, from solar powered parking meters to a solar powered stadium, to Disch's (ph) solar village.

The fall of the Berlin Wall cleared the way for it. The end of the Cold War triggered a French pull-out from their barracks in Hiburg (ph), then part of West Germany, freeing up land for urban planning.

"The French soldiers practiced here," he says. "On this land, there was a course where they had to climb, crawl, run laps."

The Cold War turf now supports an alternative lifestyle, one that appeals to accountant Biata Drescha (ph), a resident of the solar village. She made money from it, last year 2,500 euros, about $3,100, the surplus power from solar cells.

(on camera): Do you think this could be the future, or is this kind of an idealistic Don Quixote, ecological thing to do that's not going to go any further?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It must be the future.

BURNS (voice-over): The earth friendly part is just icing on the cake for Evi and Joe Kulap (ph), a teacher and a technician. They were just looking for a decent place to live and offset the costs with a solar surplus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be a good thing for the world, OK, so that makes you feel good, but that was not our first thing when we bought.

BURNS (on camera): What was the first thing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was to find a nice place where we can live, where we can feel good and what we can pay.

BURNS (voice-over): The two-bedroom apartments start at 300,000 euros, or about $425,000. Residents say that's roughly what similar apartments cost in Central Hiburg (ph), plus you're saving a few thousand euros a year in surplus electricity.

For the better-heeled, Disch (ph) built what he calls the Heliotrope (ph), where he and his wife live, at a cost of up to 1.5 million euros, about $1.9 million. Seven levels, lots of rooms, lots of eco-options, like solar water heater tubes on a circular balcony, a satellite-style solar panel that can tilt and turn to get the most power, and the most remarkable part, you can turn the whole house to follow the sun, or if you get tired of the same view.

Disch (ph) says he's sold a few of them.

Earlier in the morning, we found Disch (ph) pledging 1,000 euros for an anti-nuclear group that's trying to by German nuclear materials and prevent them from going to China.

"So this idea that you vote with your money to influence the world, is that not a bit like here?" I ask.

"Yes, the only difference here is this is professional and it gets money back," he says.

"What would you say if someone said this is a curiosity?" I ask.

"Then I would say it isn't," he says, "That this is how people will build in the future.

Even if money doesn't grow on trees or vines, any winemaker around here will tell you, there's money in them thanks to the sun. No matter how bright it shines.

Chris Burns, for GLOBAL CHALLENGES, Hiburg (ph), Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DHALIWAL: The sun is just one energy source that is being tapped here in Saint Moritz. We'll have more clean living, Swiss-style, when we come back.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DHALIWAL: Saint Moritz is one of the places to head for Europe's rich and trendy. Nestled in the pristine Alps, its resorts provide great skiing in the lap of luxury, but Saint Moritz isn't just about reckless excess. It's also the town that gave Switzerland its first electric light 125 years ago, right here in the historic Hotel Kulm. And now it is a leading light in another way.

Alessio Vinci explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mention Saint Moritz and what comes to mind is glitz and glamour, designer labels, luxury cars, 5-star hotels. It is all here in one of the world's most prestigious winter playgrounds.

This Alpine resort boasts Olympic ski runs and an average of 322 sunny days a year, residents like to say, more than the desert city of Las Vegas. True or not, the sun here plays a fundamental role, and not just because of the tan it gives. Saint Moritz is in fact using the sun as a key element in a project called Clean Energy San Moritz, aimed at promoting renewable energy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nowadays, it's a topic of our time and the future. We have always had some affinity, something that -- the first electrical light of Switzerland, for instance, was turned on here exactly 125 years ago.

The first electrical tramway or train up the Alps was also in Saint Moritz. So we hope we should continue with this pioneering and innovations.

VINCI: Clean energy is taken so seriously here that it is being touted as a tourist attraction as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We try here also to show that solar energy is (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's a very nice thing. It's clean. You have no waste. You have no pollution. You have clean air.

VINCI: To prove his point and allow me to breathe that clean air, Galose Cardinale (ph), director of the Swiss Solar Agency, took me to Peak Nair (ph). At 3,057 meters, they call it the roof of Europe. It is one of the stops on a clean energy tour which Cardinale (ph) helped create, his idea to combine tourism with green energy awareness, showcasing different types of alternative energy available in Saint Moritz.

The entire fa‡ade of this entire station, for example, is covered by solar panels, part of a more than $1 million investment into building solar and wind power plants on this mountain top, which provide only a small part of the overall needs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is also a question of personal knowledge about the environment, but you can see here people are thinking to do something that you might have good conscience when you make your holidays and spend your holidays in Saint Moritz.

VINCI: With this Saint Moritz crowd, however, many of whom seem to ignore the panels, the tour may be a hard sell.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't know. You know how complicated it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By just being here it's not the most environmentally safe behavior, to go to Saint Moritz.

VINCI: For the interested visitor, however, the tour includes some 30 stops in and around Saint Moritz, showcasing renewable energy at work.

Riding the train to the Corvalia (ph) slopes, rows of solar panels which sponsors helped pay for by contributing more than $3,000 each.

(on camera): How much energy do these panels produce?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole station has about 15 kilowatts, but you can say every third person will come to Corvalia (ph) by solar energy.

VINCI (voice-over): The sun isn't the only element exploited for energy here.

(on camera): Visitors who want to take the clean energy tour actually do not have to wear skis, but one of the stops is this wind turbine, built right here on the slopes of the world championship downhill run. Now the energy that it produces is negligible. However, tour organizers use it as a symbol to raise awareness of the potential of green energy.

(voice-over): In fact, solar and wind energy produced here amounts to less than 1 percent of local electricity needs. Other environmentally friendly plants, like this hydroelectric power station, supply 1/5 while the rest comes from traditional energy sources, leaving some skeptical about Saint Moritz's clean energy ambitions.

Tourism officials, though, insist the effort is worth is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody, including hedonistic resorts, like Saint Moritz, have to do whatever they can for a clean climate and to reduce all the problems our climate has and to help to fulfill the decisions of Kyoto. And I think if Saint Moritz does a lot in this field, this is a good example. It's a sign for others.

VINCI: Among those embracing the project is Felix Slater (ph), who runs the La Donella (ph) Hotel in the heart of Saint Moritz.

The system he is referring to is this heating equipment in the hotel basement, connected through a series of pipes to solar panels on the roof.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May I show you some of the panels? We have half the installation on that side, 70 square meters, where we just heat up hot water, and the connection is through the big boilers in the cellar, and it comes back up as the hot water in the saunas, the flowers (ph) and also the heating of the floor is being done by this solar-thermic (ph) system.

VINCI: The hotel spa also partially runs on eco-power, but Slater (ph) concedes the panels produce only enough steam and hot water for less than 1/2 of the guests.

Yet since installing them five years ago, he has saved some $75,000 in heating costs and, most importantly, he says, using less heating oil is contributing to slashing carbon dioxide emissions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we should use the sun. It's free. The sun is free. This is not free, the installation, but then there is no maintenance and the CO2 is going down. CO2 output is a terrible thing in a resort like this, in the clean air, where people come for their vacation from all over the world.

VINCI: Tourism officials admit the Clean Energy Project plays a small role in reducing pollution, but they say the symbolism is big.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a good example. It's a sign for others, and it wouldn't be the first trend set by Saint Moritz. Why the hell shouldn't we allow something for the environment?

VINCI: Judging from the lifestyle of many visitors to Saint Moritz, it looks like it could take a good while before clean energy becomes a priority and a lifestyle for all here.

Alessio Vinci for GLOBAL CHALLENGES, Saint Moritz, Switzerland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DHALIWAL: And that's all for now. I'm Daljit Dhaliwal. See you next time on GLOBAL CHALLENGES. Good bye.

END

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