Farmers who sell
sweet wormwood to manufacturers will be encouraged to switch to food crops, he says.
One is the impressive productivity of Chinese scientists in the People's Republic in exploiting the potential of Artemisia annua, the plant also known as
sweet wormwood or qing hao, from which artemisinin and related drugs are derived.
The dried aerial parts of both
sweet wormwood samples were cut into small pieces with an Osterizer.
Artemisinin, a compound based on qinghaosu, or
sweet wormwood, was first isolated in 1965 by Chinese military researchers.
Artemisinin, which the
sweet wormwood plant produces in its leaves, is an ancient malaria remedy.
Only artemisinin, derived from the
sweet wormwood plant, Artemisia annua, remains as an effective treatment, but it is expensive to produce and is frequently in short supply.
The natural compound artemisin comes from the
sweet wormwood plant and can fight drug-resistant malaria, but due to its small quantities and high price, millions of people cannot get access to this remedy.
