Grenadian Company Develops Nutmeg Drug Registers with FDA

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada - A Grenadian company has developed two over the counter (OTC) drugs from the island’s main agricultural crop, nutmeg, company officials said Friday.

“W&W Spices has successfully registered the two OTC drugs with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States,” the company’s president Joel Webbe said. “We have also filed patent protection for the drugs, and have trademarked the brand name ‘GNO’ (Grenada Nutmeg Oil).”

Webbe said Grenada is probably the first Caribbean country to develop an OTC, FDA registered drug from an agricultural crop and this has made it possible for the drugs to be marketed in the United States.

“These historic new Grenadian pharmaceutical drugs are 100 per cent natural and organic,” Webbe said. “They will compete directly with products like Bengay and Icy Hot, two established OTC drugs made mainly with synthetic chemicals.”

Meanwhile, beginning 06 September 2003, a half hour television infomercial to market the first product – GNO Pain Relieving Oil – will be shown on several television networks in the USA. Consequently the infomercial will be seen daily around the Caribbean, Canada and Central America.

The introduction of the drugs on the market is expected to boost the island’s nutmeg industry, which was recently hit by a significant drop in the price of green nutmegs.

Webbe, a private investor, opened the multi-million dollar agro-high technology W&W Spices project in the rural Grenadian parish of St. Andrew in April 2002 promising that it had the potential to bring tremendous economic benefits to the country.

He said that if all the nutmeg Grenada exported yearly were converted to myristic acid, glycerol, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics the island would stand to increase its export earnings to billions of dollars in value added products, from the US$20M it earned from the export of the raw material.

Forty per cent of Grenada’s nutmeg is fat and 85 per cent of that fat is trimyristin – the by-product that contains glycerol and myristic acid.

Webbe maintains, “those two components added to the vast potential for pharmaceutical and cosmetic products can change the economics of Grenada in that it would allow Grenada to become one of the world’s largest cosmetics-producing countries and a major player in topical analgesic OTC drugs.

One of the smallest independent countries in the western hemisphere, Grenada, also known as the “Spice Island” is the world’s second-largest producer of nutmeg and mace, and is a significant producer of cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

The island of 90,000 lies between the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, north of Trinidad and Tobago.

ST. GEORGE ‘S, Grenada: Grenada’s industrial climate is getting more restive by the day even as the umbrella Trade Union Council was discussing if and when to call a national strike to protest the labor policies of the Keith Mitchell administration.

The TUC was holding a planning meeting late Thursday and has announced plans to meet with the National Bus Association, whose co-operation will be critical to pull off a successful protest action.

All this was happening on a day the island’s teachers announced they will be holding two public meetings on Monday morning, rather than return to the classrooms for the start of the school year, and public servants say they too were rejecting government’s pay hike offer. Thursday also saw street demonstrations by workers at Grenada’s call center who went on strike on Wednesday to protest a cut in pay.

Leaders of the Grenada Union of Teachers met here Thursday and decided that a general meeting should be called to plan their next move in their battle with government over pay increases.

The teachers have rejected government’s 10 percent pay hike offer and are instead demanding 23 percent.

GUT Head Marvin Andall said that they are willing to participate in any last minute talks to avert the disruption of classes, and are opened to negotiations up to midnight on Sunday.

According to reports coming from Thursday’s meeting, there appears to be “a strong current of militancy.” One observer told CARIBUPDATE that something dramatic will have to happen in the next three days to avert teachers taking some form of industrial action.

The Public Workers Union, the largest in the island, has rejected government’s pay hike offer as well, though it will meet again with its negotiating team on Friday.

The government is reportedly offering an eight percent pay hike for the three-year period under negotiation, but the PWU said this is too low. According to the union's figures, that means workers earning less than $1,000 a month will get increases ranging between 14 and 25 dollars.

In its recent newsletter the PWU said "there is no way it will accept government's latest offer".

The union had initially demanded a 13.5 percent raise, but has indicated its willingness to settle for 11.5 percent.

The period being negotiated runs from 2002 to 2004, which means if an agreement is reached some of the payments will be retroactive.

Scores of workers at Call Center Grenada near the east coast town of Grenville took to the streets, with officials of TAWU visible in their organization though the union has yet to be given bargaining rights by the Minister of Labor.

The Call Center was set up about two years ago by the government without the approval of parliament, and subsequently sold to private interests though the government still holds most of the liabilities.

The whole operation has caused a furore here but the Mitchell administration has resisted opposition demands or an inquiry into its set up.

All the rumblings are taking place against the backdrop of an entire trade union movement which has said it distrusts government’s labor policies.

The TUC has said that government’s recent amendment of the labor relations act is a move by the Mitchell government to stifle the movement, which has been described by TUC senator Chester Humphrey as “the last bastion of opposition against this government.”

Government has denied there is any sinister plans in the amendment, and said it has been instituted to ensure industrial stability.

The government has also accused the unions of having a political rather than a labor motive.

ST GEORGE'S, GRENADA: The decision by the ruling New National Party to hold its annual convention on October 19th has been described as insensitive by at least two politicians here. It was on this date 20 years ago this year that former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and other leading Grenadian politicians were murdered at the end of a bitter political feud.

Since the ruling NNP announced the date last month the issue has been raised on some local radio talk shows and on Grenadian internet talk forum. Now Dr Terrence Marryshow, a Cuban-trained doctor who once headed the now dormant Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement and Tillman Thomas, leader of the National Democratic Congress said the decision to host the political event on such a date was ill-advised.

NNP officials have refused to pitch in to the debate, and have refused comment on the issue.

Marryshow the day is too important for Grenadians for the NNP to host a major political event, which will take some people's attention away from the reflection that is needed on the anniversary.

There is a possibility, some observers here say, that the ruling party might use the convention day to announce a date for general elections.

"It clearly demonstrates a lack of sensitivity, a lack of caring on the part of the New National Party administration, lack of sensitivity to the victims of October the 19th and to their families in fact, when a day like that is a day that many people have been calling for as a national holiday, a day of reflection, a day of remembrance," he said.

"It is a most tragic day in Grenada's history, and should not be a day for business as usual," Marryshow said.

Dr Marryshow said a lot of wounds are still open since the majority of bodies have not been recovered to be given a proper burial.

"This should be one day that we set aside to reflect on the tangible contribution to those who dies, and to remember Prime Minister Maurice Bishop for the outstanding leadership that he provided for the Grenadian people," Marryshow said.

"A man who was loved by the people, a man who loved the people that he and all of his colleagues gave their lives that they ought to be remembered. I think it is the proper thing to do," he added.

NDC leader Tillman Thomas was specifically asked for his comments on the issue during a recent press conference here.

He also said he thought the NNP was being a little insensitive.

"We see this as a day of reflection and a day of people looking at the history of Grenada and what we've been through. It is not really a day for partying and bringing in foreign artistes to come and gallivant in Grenada," he said.

ST. GEORGE ‘S, Grenada: The ruling New National Party has announced it will be holding a two-day convention in October which many here are already saying it may be a prelude to a short re-election campaign.

The convention being staged in rural St Andrew is on for October 18 and 19, 2003.

The Grenada Today newspaper had reported earlier this month that Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell is considering announcing the date for general elections at the end of the convention. The convention’s schedule released Tuesday by the New National Party says the event will culminate on day two with a rally and address by Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell.

The first day will feature the election of a new party executive, where there is expected to be little change as the party seeks a unity front going into the upcoming general elections.

For many months there have been widespread speculation here that the poll constitutionally due by April next year may be held before the end of 2003.

Many observers here believe the poll will be held within a month of Prime Minister Mitchell announcing the date. If this theory holds, and he names the date at the convention, a poll before the end of November may not be out of the question.

Whenever the polls are finally held, the convention will be the last such meeting of the party before Grenadians vote again.

The NNP has a good record of delivery of services but accusation of corruption and well publicized clashes with many sectors especially the trade union movement has dogged its tenure.

NNP won all 15 seats in the January 1999 poll, but now holds a 14-1 majority in parliament following the resignation of opposition leader Michael Baptiste.

Baptiste is expected to contest his St Andrew’s South West seat for the Grenada United Labor Party but faces tough contests from NNP’s newcomer Yolande Joseph and Osbert Charles of the National Democratic Congress.

NNP has already announced its full slate of 15 candidates.

Other than Joseph, another woman Ann Alexander is a newcomer in St George’s South, replacing current representative Mark Isaac, who midway during the current term fell out of grace and was relegated to the ranks of Junior Minister.

The third newcomer is Bhola who is replacing the retiring Oliver Archibald as the candidate in St Andrews North East.