Active Substances
Snowdrops contain an active substance called galantamine, (or galanthamine), which can be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, though it is not a cure.
Snowdrops contain also an active lectin or agglutinin named GNA for Galanthus nivalis agglutinin. Potatoes have been genetically modified with the GNA gene. In 1998 Árpád Pusztai said in an interview on a World in Action programme that his group had observed damage to the intestines and immune systems of rats fed the genetically modified potatoes. He also said "If I had the choice I would certainly not eat it", and that "I find it's very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs". These remarks started the so-called Pusztai affair.
Read more about this topic: Galanthus Nivalis
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“Many writers who choose to be active in the world lose not virtue but time, and that stillness without which literature cannot be made.”
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