As part of our earth day events, and to help improve awareness of the importance of biodiversity, the Division of Environmental Protection holds an annual “Name IT” Contest.  The importance of protecting biodiversity for biomedical research cannot be overstated.  Most major new drug discoveries come from natural products, sometimes from plant or animal species that are endangered or threatened.  For NIH we could say “Endangered Species, Endangered Mission."

What is IT?

In past years “IT” has been a plant species from far off lands in Africa and India.  In 2009 IT comes from the USA and you definitely would not want to find IT in your garden.   IT is also hard to imagine a more unlikely source of a new billion dollar blockbuster drug!

Check back for the 2010 Earth Day "IT" Contest and activies for the whole family.