Cancer Treatment

The Pacific yew, source of the anticancer drug Taxol, grows primarily in Pacific Northwest forests managed by the U.S. government. In fiscal year 1991, neither the Forest Service nor the Bureau of Land Management had effective timber sale administrative procedures or utilization standards. As a result, some usable yew bark went uncollected that year. In fiscal year 1992, both agencies in conjunction with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and its yew bark collectors have worked to ensure more complete utilization of yew bark. If properly implemented, the agencies' fiscal year 1992 program plans and associated operational procedures should help ensure that more of this limited and valuable resource is recovered.

GAO found that: (1) neither BLM nor the Service collected usable Pacific yew bark in FY 1991 primarily because of sawmill timber harvesting, failure to collect usable bark from branches and stems of smaller diameter, trees scattered throughout wide geographical areas, and taxol content deterioration; (2) both BLM and the Forest Service have revised their Pacific yew program plans and associated operations procedures for FY 1992 to ensure more complete utilization of yew bark; and (3) to increase utilization of yew bark, BLM and the Forest Service have required bark collectors to return to previously harvested sites to recover bark that was left, established collection priorities requiring the collection of yew bark before timber harvesting activities, and required agency field managers to review bark collectors' compliance with the utilization standards.