Things to consider:
* The 10 unique bushes are on your 2 acre suburban lot.
* Each bush has 2000 leaves that can cure cancer patients fresh or dried.
* The plants can't be transplanted. They bear no seeds.
* 60 Minutes is on to the story and will put it on national television in one week.
2007-03-28 09:50:47 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Botany
The plants would belong to the world, but that don't you should not profit from them. The first thing to do would be get the top crop scientists on how to vegetatively propagate the plants. This would be possible or there wouldn't be ten of them. Allow medical research to have use of the material. Arrange some kind of patten to allow yourself part of any profits from the use or sale of the plants. Last, don't worry about 60 Minutes, nobody watches it anyway.
2007-03-28 15:23:27 · answer #1 · answered by john h 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are three things to do scientifically, and I'd get the ball rolling on all of them so I'd be sure to get paid when my plants cure cancer.
The first is that we need to find out how these plants reproduce. Everything reproduces, so if it is seedless like a spider plant, I have to figure that out so I can cultivate more plants. I'd also want the soil and environment analyzed to try to find out what is so unique about my backyard.
The second is testing the effectiveness. Probably best done informally--I'll sell a few leaves to a few patients just like all the con artists do, or maybe give them away--except that I'll keep in contact and follow up with them, since I think my product will actually work. After a quick and dirty study to be sure it's the real deal, more formal scientific tests can start.
The third is the chemistry and pharmacology. I'd do chromatographs and other tests to find out what is in the leaves that is so special. It may be easier to reproduce the leaves' drug synthetically than to cultivate more plants.
That's it in a nutshell--start moving forward with using the plants to cure cancer, but maintain control over the plants and the results that come from their study. I'm all for helping people, but there is no reason to give away something so valuable for free (unless I could find a way to rig it so no one else makes money on it either--that would be acceptable charity--I just don't want to be the guy that gave away half a billion dollars to Merck).
2007-03-28 10:07:12 · answer #2 · answered by wayfaroutthere 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. Get a lawyer;
2. Contract with a fencing company to fence in your lot with a durable fence;
3. Notify the police department of the potential for a crowd problem;
4. Announce that you will come up with a procedure to properly allocate the leaves, and that the procedure will (i) treat those at greatest risk first; and (ii) include some provision for those who cannot pay.
5. Announce that anyone who comes within 500 yards of the fence - and his/her family members - will be disqualified from receiving one of the leaves.
2007-03-28 10:04:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I kill my biologist friend and steal the glory of finding this cancer-curing plant. I take the plant to a biology lab, and sell it for $20,000,000, and I live happily ever after.
2007-03-28 10:31:59 · answer #4 · answered by contract.murderer 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You make a transgenic plant. By doing this, you can make different plants that all have the same gene that cures cancer.
2007-03-28 09:59:19 · answer #5 · answered by renomitsu 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Donate some leaves for study so that the active ingredient can be extracted, synthesized and unlimited quantities can be made.
2007-03-28 10:00:06 · answer #6 · answered by Jabberwock 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋