Main description:

Taxol is arguably the most celebrated, talked-about and controversial natural product in recent years. It is celebrated because of its efficacy as an anti-cancer drug and because its discovery has provided powerful support for policies concerned with biodiversity; talked about because in the late 1980s and early 1990s the American public was bombarded with news reports and special programmes about the molecule and its host, the Pacific yew; and controversial because during the early 1990s the drug and the tree became embroiled in a number of very sensitive political issues with wide implications for the conduct of public policy. The Story of Taxol tells this story.

Contents:

Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Agents: 1. Cancer chemotherapy: plant knowledge and practice; Part II. Practices: 2. Act I: 1962-75; 3. Act II: 1976-83; 4. Act III: 1984-9; Part III. Controversies: 5. The politics of exclusivity and the business of taxol; 6. The political life (and death) of Taxus Brevifolia; References and bibliography; Index.