Can you keep the last red pine?

From the urgency of the recent mass of red pine, the Lam Dong provincial authorities have asked the local government to put the red pine in the province's " special protection " program.

In fact, the content mentioned above could be called a higher step of the red pine protection program in Lam Dong. Because nearly two years ago - early 2008, the forestry sector of this province also conducted a review, checking the entire area with red pine so that on that basis, it would be zoned and put red pine in the area. Specially protected plants '.

The red pine tree is propagated at Lam Dong Forestry Research Center.

Although at the beginning of 2008, in Lam Dong, the red pine was marked as ' inviolable ', but the fate of the last remaining population was still threatened as usual. On September 29, Lam Dong Forest Protection Department said, in recent times, the province continues to have 11 red pine trees sneaked down by snobbery.

The figures of the authorities also stated in detail: At the scene, the red pine was destroyed in Voi mountain in Hiep An and Hiep Thanh communes, Duc Trong district, the authorities measured nearly 14m ² of red pine left by the crooks (not yet dispersed).

It should also be noted that Lam Dong's ' pursuit ' of the last red pine trees has not only recently taken place.

According to Lam Dong Forestry Research Center (under MARD), Lam Dong is a rare land of not only Vietnam, but also Asia of red pine populations - Taxus wallichian Zucc - extremely rare. For a long time, the red pine has been considered as a raw material for making a few medicines to treat some incurable diseases.

In particular, in 1994, the medical community published an important information: From the leaves and bark of red pine, it is possible to extract two active ingredients taxol and taxotere to make raw materials for the preparation of cancer drugs ovaries, breast cancer, lung cancer, melanoma . From this information, in France, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) immediately implemented a scientific research project. The name of the project "Production of generic anti-cancer drugs taxol and taxotere in Vietnam " and assigned this task to a Vietnamese-based scientist, Dr. Tran Khanh Vien.

Dr. Tran Khanh Vien in the preamble of this project stated: Both active ingredients taxol and taxotere (developed from activated docetaxel molecule of Sanofi Aventis France) are extracted from red pine bark and leaves. and brought huge economic revenues for manufacturers.

For 10 years, Bristol Myers Squibb (France) has earned $ 11 billion from the sale of taxol. As for Sanofi Aventis, the sale of taxotere in 2005 has gained a big profit: USD 1.7 billion.

In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City Cancer Hospital alone spent VND 19 billion in 2006 to buy drugs originating from foreign taxol and taxotere for medical treatment.

In previous years, the exploitation of red pine in Lam Dong was like that of other forest trees. By the time you know that this is a brand name, the exploitation has the purpose of taking leaves, stems, branches, red pine roots to make drinking water to treat or prevent cancer (very anti-scientific and very dangerous to human life. people).

About 5 years ago, according to statistics of the forestry sector, mature red pine populations (thousands of years old) in Lam Dong still have about 300 trees. But now, with what happened in relation to this last red pine population, the number of individuals remaining is less than 100.

Recently, along with conducting scientific research on red pine propagation, Lam Dong has also encouraged units and individuals to receive forest land to grow this rare and precious tree for medical benefits. That effort was remarkable, but that was not enough when in fact, the protection of the last red pine population of Lam Dong has not yielded satisfactory results.