Cancer Treatment

Efforts to More Fully Utilize the Pacific Yew's Bark Gao ID: T-RCED-92-36 March 4, 1992

The bark of the Pacific yew is the only approved source of taxol, an anticancer drug that has been shown effective in treating ovarian cancer. The limited supply of Pacific yew bark coupled with existing and potential demand mean that the bark needs to be as fully utilized as possible. For a variety of reasons, however, not all the bark that could have been collected on federal lands in 1991 was collected. Both responsible federal land-managing agencies and private industry are taking or planning actions to more fully use the bark, and increased utilization should be seen in 1992. These actions appear to be consistent with provisions of the Pacific Yew Act of 1991 intended to achieve full utilization of the bark.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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