APPALACHIAN GINSENG FOUNDATION

     A project of Appalachia -- Science in the Public Interest       
  #11 Spring, 2002                       AGF Newsletter

---

CALL TO APPALACHIAN GINSENG PROMOTERS

   We are seeking support from our AGF readers to approach and educate
your respective Appalachian congressional delegations.  Ask them to become
acquainted with the ginseng growing and marketing picture, and to consider
a federally-funded program which we have been discussing during the past
two years.  We have received no major objections from the AGF members to
the marketing card and grading proposals, and so we are presenting the
following points as a basis for an educational program for legislators.
Some of you may be willing to approach your respective congressional
delegations, but we need still more support in the Appalachian states where
wild ginseng is an important component of the rural economy.  Please either
plan to go to Washington or to see your congresspersons when they visit
their home offices.  A bi-partisan effort could be mounted to finance a
ginseng program in next year's legislation.  However, before this is
possible, the decision-makers will have to know about American ginseng.

Elements in Possible Federal Ginseng Regulations

   Whereas the Federal Department of the Interior has restricted the
export of wild ginseng to five year or older root due to excessive
harvesting, and whereas incidents of poaching has increased substantially
in recent years, and whereas the small grower is unable to get a fair price
for ginseng root, it is necessary to adopt federal regulations to protect
the interstate commerce of this crop, especially for private landholders.

Need
    * to eliminate poaching of wild ginseng on private land and
    * to give the grower a recognized economic value of his crop
       being presently offered for sale.

Federal Marketing Card for Verification -- not Crop Restrictions
  * Restrict sales of a threatened medicinal herb to only those
     who have a marketing card.

  * Identify the land owner having wild ginseng or other medicinal
herb crops as requiring regulation, and require state
verification following similar procedures as currently
used for state certification of organic produce.  State
agricultural departments would develop verification
procedures and issue marketing cards.
 
  * Identify field crafters and allow issuance of a card provided they
have traditionally used a particular growing area with permission of public
land managers or private landowner.

  * Cards should contain extensive agricultural information which should
include estimated amount of herb to be marketed over a span of time with
allotments for expansion of crop through normal growth.  Estimates of crop
available for sale should allow flexibility on the part of the grower
depending on year-by-year economic or weather conditions.

Federal Grading System
   * Establish and fund a federal medicinal herb grading system,
beginning with ginseng, while making use of buyers input.  This grading
system should involve training and supplying government approved graders
for the medicinal herb.
   
   * Perform the grading operation through state agricultural
systems which would require the federal age restrictions on export of wild
ginseng.

   * Establish publicly announced convenient locations for grading  during
the harvest season (in autumn in Kentucky).  Graded material should be
weighed, sealed and offered for sale to certified buyers.

   The regulations could apply to any commercial medicinal herb which is
gathered in the wild, or has a wild or cultivated market potential.  Some
of these herbs may be declared to be threatened or endangered by the
appropriate federal agency.
   
              Latest Brightening Market Picture

   The disappointing early sales of wild ginseng did not persist.
Kentucky state agricultural authorities have predicted just before the end
of the 2001 growing season (March, 2002) that prices would move to a
healthy average $360 per pound for the year.  This exceeds an average of
about $320 per pound for the market year 2000.  There is a growing optimism
that the American economy is recovering from the Attack on America and that
the Asian market is showing a restored confidence in American ginseng.

   Another effect that many did not expect a half year ago is that the ban
on export of less than five-year-old ginseng has not proved a major hurdle,
with some reported returning of ginseng which appeared not to meet
standards.  Resorting and packaging has remedied some of these reported
situations. However, experts observe that the number of roots per pound
have increased from 150 to 200 in the 1980s to about 300 roots now.  There
is strong evidence that less mature roots are entering the marketing
system, which ultimately may prove quite harmful to the maturing ginseng
stock which is greatly needed for replenishing supplies.

                New Ginseng Coordinator  

  Beginning in late April, Therese Tackett who is a West Virginia native
and a Franciscan Sister will move from Harlan County to reside at the
ASPI cordwood building, tend one of our organic gardens, and serve as the
ASPI Ginseng Coordinator.  Her tasks will include general communications,
attending the Commission on Religion in Appalachia meetings, and serving as
the editor of this AGF Newsletter.  

   Therese has been highly successful in promoting the growing of wild
ginseng in eastern Kentucky for the past few years and hosted two of our
Ginseng Educational Workshops in 2000 and 2001.  Therese comes with an
immense amount of enthusiasm and organizing skill.  She can generally be
reached at her residence/office at (606) 453-2105 or on special days at the
ASPI Mt. Vernon office.    

             Alternative Anti-Poaching Suggestions
             
    We have consistently discussed the poaching problem and a number of
you have confided to having suffered from this plague -- including the
entire University of Kentucky test crop.  Our efforts have been focused on
this problem and we are reminded that deliberate stealing of this crop can
be a felony punishable by prison.  Michael Godby of Wadestown, WV proposes
that committees of 2-3 persons should be encouraged to form a ginseng
poaching task force which would help with proper posting of property and
for making citizens' arrests at the time of the theft.  He would like to
discuss other suggestions and can be reached at   mgodby303@aol.com

                  Ginseng Care in the Spring

   Spring is the time when everything comes to life and ginseng is a
harbinger of the season, sometimes one of the earliest plants peeping out
from the leaves in the forest cover on northern and eastern slopes.  In our
temperate mixed forest, the ginseng plant is most likely present.  In fact,
observers in Kentucky and surrounding states have found wild ginseng in
every one of the 120 counties and lack of strong harvesting data in certain
parts of the Commonwealth has not been due to a lack of plants but rather
to a lack of a marketing mechanism in those sub-regions.  

   We hope your latest addition of seed has been planted and that you are
now able to check for new growth, that the floods or earlier forest fires
did not harm your crop, and that you have even had some time to add blow-
down and fallen branches to your ginseng terraces.  Finally, we hope the
upcoming growing season will be a good one for you.  

                    Research Notes
       
    HerbalGram, No. 53, p.18 reports that recent research by R. B. Duda et
al. has found that American ginseng extracts and cancer therapeutic agents
have synergistically inhibited breast cancer cell growth.  This was an in
vitro (laboratory) study and now in vivo (on people) experiments are
warranted, since the ginseng safety is fairly well established based on
epidemiological (occurrence of harm in a population) observations.

   HerbalGram, No. 53, p.19 reports that American ginseng reduces blood
sugar levels after meals in Type II diabetes also known as non-insulin-
dependent diabetes-mellitus (NIDDM).  This was done on a small trial basis.
 
                Additional Happenings
                         
   * Departmental Meeting -- ASPI is co-sponsoring a talk by  Laura Murphy
from Southern Illinois University at the Eastern Kentucky University
(Richmond, KY) at 2:00 on Friday, April 26, 2002 (Room 103 Moore Chemistry
Building).  All are cordially invited.  She will discuss the progress being
made in her laboratories utilizing virtually wild ginseng extracts in
retarding or killing prostate and breast cancer cells.  Since this will be
both a Chemistry Department audience and a more general public audience due
to the Earth Week celebrations of the University, Al Fritsch will lead off
with a general discussion of wild ginseng and its joint
economic/environmental role in Appalachia, followed by the scientific paper
by Professor Murphy.

  * Spring CORA Meeting --  Celebrate Appalachia meeting at the Bennett
Center at London, KY being put on by the ADPC Leadership Development
Committee.  There will be our own ginseng representative present and the
subject will undoubtedly be discussed.  CORA is funding this newsletter
effort during 2002.

  * Upcoming  Ohio Meeting --  A Landowners Conference "Income
Opportunities from Field and Forest," will be held on June 8-9th, 2002 in
southeastern Ohio which is run by Rural Action Sustainable Forestry.  
Ginseng will be a component of the program and AGF materials will be
available through the kind efforts of Syl Yunker.  For more about the
meeting and the principal sponsoring group visit their website

                      -----------------------
                        AGF Office
                       Current editor
                      (to end of April)
                        Al Fritsch
                        50 Lair Street
                    Mt. Vernon, KY  40456        
  Telephone (606)256-0077  Fax (606) 256-2779  E-mail aspi@kih.net
                 A-SPI Home Page    http://www.a-spi.org/