COMMUNITY
Yew trees attract national attention
Demand for bark arouses concerns
By June Russell
Emerald Reporter
Conservation, economic op
portunities and the value of
biological diversity are just a
few of the issues raised by the
discovery and rising demand
for the anti-cancer drug taxol in
Pacific yew tree bark.
Long considered a "weed
tree" by timber harvesters and
the U.S. Forest Service, the
yew is rapidly becoming a
valuable marketable commodi
ty, with the potential to bring
researchers and economic op
portunities to l.anc County.
“There is an indication that
there are red hot opportunities
appearing for research and eco
nomic development,'' said
I-ane County Commissioner Jer
ry Rust. "Our forest products
industry is clearly diminishing.
To turn this molecule into re
search jobs and dollars is what
the new research park is all
about."
Rust said researchers from
the Chicago and San Francisco
Bay area have already contact
ed him and expressed interest
in relocating their laboratories
in Eugene, in what Rust de
scribes as the heartland of yew
country.
The economic opportunities
created by the sudden market
ability of yew tree bark is not
lost on forest service officials.
Spurred by the interest in the
yew tree from researchers and
bark harvesters, the forest ser
vice is undertaking research of
its own to learn more about tin?
yew and possible sustained
yield harvesting.
“We are doing more invento
ry, looking at more possibilities
of harvesting,” said Patti Rod
gers, public affairs specialist
for the U S. Forest Service in
the Willamette National Forest
“Suddenly there is a desire
and demand for harvesting
yew. We're taking a look at
how that harvesting is happen
ing. We're also looking at cul
tivation. At this point we’re
looking at a number of may
bes'," she said.
Ignorance, logging practices
and the destruction of the
yew's habitat. Kust said, are re
sponsible for the steady de
crease in the native yew popu
lation. With the increasing de
mands from researchers for
taxol. that decrease translates
into supply problems and ris
ing conservation concerns.
"It is intertwined with the
debate over national forests,"
Rust said. “It appears the yew
tree is one of the most sensitive
trees in the forest. When you
destroy its habitat, as in dear
cutting. it just disappears. It's
pushed to the brink of extinc
tion in Europe."
The National (lancer Institute
discovered the anti-cancer uses
of taxol, a chemical extracted
from the yew bark, during tests
run on over 35.000 species of
plants beginning in 1958
The success of clinical trials
started 1981 using taxol on
ovarian cancer cells has led re
searchers to make plans to test
the drug on 31 other cancers,
including cancers of the lung,
breast and colon.
Increased research, however,
means an increased demand for
limited supplies of yew bark
This has Kust and other con
servationists concerned, and
afraid the yew population may
be irreparably depleted or made
extinct.
Inherent to the supply prob
lem is the minute amounts of
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taxol obtained from each yew
tree, and the tree's slow rate of
growth.
The preferred tree for har
vesting is over 50 years old.
creating a long wait even if har
vested trees were immediately
replaced with seedlings. Kust
said.
The bark of three to six of
these trees is needed to pro
duce 200 milligrams of the
drug, enough taxol to treat a
single patient. Some 2,IKK) to
4.000 trees are needed to pro
duce a kilogram of taxol; last
year (H).(KK) pounds of the bark
were harvested to yield 2.5
pounds of the drug. Every year
some 12.000 women in the
U.S. die from ovarian cancer.
These numbers worry' conser
vationists. who are organizing
on behalf of the yew.
Ton environmental organiza
tions sent a petition September
Ptkoto by A Mir* Ranicrt
Ijtne County fMmmissioner lorry Rust is concerned about the
fate of the northwestern yew tree.
19 to Interior Secretary Manuel
Lujan, asking that the yew In;
listed as a threatened species
under the Endangered Species
Act.
Among lhost* supporting tin*
petition are the Oregon Natural
Resources Council, the Fnvi
ronmental Defense Fund anti
National Wildlife Federation.
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