NEW NATION (Dhaka, Bangladesh) 23 August 05 Feasibility of venom export being explored (UNB)

Dhaka: An unconventional overture for export of venom from Bangladesh for the first time has drawn tremendous attention of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and encouraged it to promote the business.

On an official order from the Prime Minister's Office, the Bureau examined a proposal placed by a young snake-charmer-cum entrepreneur for venom export and put forward the file to the Ministry of Environment and Forest on Monday to assess the prospect.

After conducting a feasibility study, the ministry will decide whether the proposed business could be promoted or be discouraged for the sake of conserving the bio-diversity and the environment.

Venom is a very costly poisonous liquid produced when snakes bite or sting. It is used in some rare types of research-based drugs, particularly in the developed countries.

Sources said the young snake charmer, M Tota Miah of village Chowrangibazar in Haripur upazlia under Thakurgoan district, recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia seeking her help to make arrangements for venom export.

In the letter, Tota identified himself as poor snake-charmer-cum-entrepreneur and said he has developed a medium-scale snake farm at his village home after receiving training on reptile rearing in India.

Tota wrote: "Huge snakes are being produced in my farm and I'm selling those to the snake charmers of different parts of the country."

"But the country could earn huge foreign currency exporting venom after meeting local demand if I can collect the venom from snake teeth by using modern technology with a little bit of training," he said.

Tota also said the usefulness of venom is known by all in the world, as it is very important and valuable raw material for the pharmaceutical sector.

"It hardly requires huge investment or manpower to set up a snake farm but the country can earn crores of taka by exporting the medicinal item," he said adding that the reptile farming is not risky at all if some precautionary and preventive measures can be taken.

"Despite having tremendous potentials, I could not collect and export the venom which I had long been wasting due to lack of training or export measures," Tota said requesting the Prime Minister to make necessary arrangements for exporting the valuable item.

The PMO received the letter in June last and put it forward to EPB asking it to give its opinion regarding the proposal.

The PMO also received a similar letter addressed to the Prime Minister from Mukul Hossain of Mirpur in Dhaka recently, which also sent to the EPB for evaluation.

Mukul Hossain suggested the government that Dhaka Zoo authorities could impart training to the snake farmers and the Commerce Ministry could help explore venom market abroad.

After evaluating the letters, EPB on Monday sent the proposals to the Ministry of Environment and Forest as it found that the commercial farming of snake might harm the bio-diversity.

When contacted EPB Vice President Mir Shahabuddin Mohammad told UNB that it is definitely an innovative idea. "We'll take initiatives to export venom if the environment and Forest Ministry give us a positive directive," he said adding, "The ministry would examine how much feasible it is for the ecological balance."
Feasibility of venom export being explored

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• PAK Press: Feasibility of venom export being explored - W von Papineäu, Tue Aug 23 12:45:16 2005