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Contact:
John Emmanuel
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Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, and
former Agriculture Minister, Sen. Calixte George share the head table with
SFRR-Africa President Dr. Aruoma(right)and others members of the Society. |
Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - Over thirty (30) renowned scientists from
the international community have joined their counterparts in St. Lucia, along
with other medical personnel for the 5th International Conference of the Society
for Free Radical Research – Africa (SFRR-A).
The meeting, taking place at the Royal St. Lucian Hotel, seeks to establish
among other things, science base relationships within the African, Caribbean and
Pacific grouping. The overall objective is to build capacity for sustained
growth in scientific research, in specialized areas focusing on medicinal plants
and traditional medicines.
Former Agriculture Minister and now Minister for Home Affairs and Internal
Security, Senator the Honourable Calixte George said that given the particular
interest of the region in the chemistry of natural products, convening the
four-day conference here was significant.
“It is clear that many important aspects of current research in the mechanisms
of free radical antioxidants, along with interactions of oxidative stress also
play a critical role in the physiology of numerous diseases, such as
hypertension, stroke, diabetes, cardiac diseases and cancers,” he said, noting
that “these diseases are very prevalent in the Caribbean and consume substantial
financial resources in our health care budgets”.
With increased medical challenges facing the scientific community, Senator
George, himself a scientist has appealed to governments in the region to be more
cognizant of the needs of medical researchers.
His sentiments have been fully endorsed by President of SFRR-Africa Dr. Okezie
Aruoma, who is of the view that more resources must to be allocated in terms of
providing well equipped laboratories and an overall conducive environment for
conducting research.
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