The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 23, 2012
By Steven Ambrus | Cuernavaca, Mexico
Citiation: http://bit.ly/Anascorp
Arizona, home to the dangerous bark scorpion, was about to use up the United States’ remaining supplies of scorpion antivenom when University of Arizona scientists traveled south of the border in search of a solution. Lifesaving antivenom, Anascorp, developed by Mexican researchers is more potent and much safer than the unlicensed one previously produced in Arizona. Anascorp is the first drug fully developed in Latin America to be approved by the FDA.
The tables are turning in the world of research. In the article Leslie Boyer, pediatrician and toxicologist, states as a medical student at Harvard the conceit was that Americans invented the drugs and then tested them in the Third World. The development of the drug Anascorp did the exact opposite as it was created in Latin American and later tested in the U.S., reversing the preceding intellectual dependency model. Arizona residents had the life-threatening problem and relied on Mexican researchers to solve their problem. This particular research breakthrough changes the power dynamic between Arizona State University researchers and their Mexican counterparts. The notion that the answers to the world’s most pressing problems will originate in the most “developed” parts of the world is losing traction and this case is one example. The fact that Anascorp is the first drug fully developed in Latin America to be approved by the FDA also provides more credibility to the Mexican researchers and their work.
The implications of the reversal of intellectual dependency might be disconcerting to developed nation’s who have secured their influence and power by providing aid, drugs, ideas, and curriculum to the underdeveloped. The idea that the Global North might have to begin depending on countries in the Global South to solve their own domestic problems would undoubtedly change foreign policy. Questions of life and death can be at stake in regard to research breakthroughs and development. Over time more cases like Anascorp could generate negotiating power for countries in the Global South. In light of their aggressive stance on immigration Arizona should consider changing their ideology of Mexico and Mexicans considering Mexicans are the ones who solved a problem inherent to the state of Arizona. Do Arizonians realize they are now dependent on Mexicans to save their lives?
I loved the implications of this article. It sort of reminds me of all those end of the world movies, when NYC is destroyed and all remaining humans on earth are left to settled in countries classified as the Global South (I think it was the Day After Tomorrow where everyone from the US settled in Mexico?- don't quote me on that). Regardless, I think this article raises important points in our perception of intellectual contributions from the Global South. Too often, people assume that developing countries have little to offer in terms of education and medicine, and this article proves them wrong. The time has come to do away with this kind of thinking, dividing intellectual pursuits between global North and South lines. We as global citizens should be looking everywhere, not just from the US and the EU, but also from labs in Mexico to small clinics in Malawi for the newest innovations in research. Just because something doesn't come out of Johns Hopkins doesn't mean it's not worth something. After all, it might just save our lives.
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