How did we become involved in DNA Testing?
It started with a pineapple!
A friend of mine from Ghana had a pineapple farm, he explained that rules keep changing and it is difficult to keep up with legislation. He said where they used to sell to Europe the full fruit, they can only sell pineapple juice. I said I would speak to some friends in plant chemistry, to see what we can come up with.
While my field of interest was originally medical care, I had been a businessman for some time and I was connected with some universities. I spoke to a Doctor of Plant Chemistry at Bangor University. I mentioned Pineapples and that my friend needs to increase his income. He said pineapple leaves are very fibrous and Ford Motor Company in Canada had just done a deal with some Brazilian farmers to buy their pineapple leaves. they originally had dashboards made from fibre glass, but fibre glass remains for 50 years in landfill, Ford wishing to go greener with their cars were using the biodegradable fibres of the pineapple leaves to make a better alternative for the environment. Pineapple farmers normally burn the excesses leaves, which can cause local pollution.
This got me thinking that there may very many items out there that could produce an extra income for producers of all kinds of products. The leaves can produce an income 25% - 50% extra income. This can make the difference between success or failure. This set me on the road to explore the residual value behind the main crop on farms.
I came across an anomaly there is a certain harvest, which by weight has 50% waste I found that farmers were giving the waste away to pig farmers and historically had done so for hundreds of years. There was just to much waste and it was a nuisance at a time when the farm was at its busiest. I thought if we could just make use of this waste this would help the farmers and maybe there is a use for it? Without going into too much detail, results showed it was rich in nutrition. Steve Jobs the joint founder of apple before he died was credited with saying, “If you don’t consider your food to be a medication, you could end up with medication being your only food”. We believe that food is for energy, but nutrition is for a healthy life.
This interest in nutrition brought me into contact with parts of Africa, Peru and other countries in South America and Central America. It also get me introduced to Professor Szyf a specialist Professor in DNA, at McGill University, Montreal, CANADA. He dedicated more than 30 years of his life at Harvard Medical School to perfect his protocol for DNA testing. I do not pretend to know a great deal about DNA and chromosomes, even though I have been in the clinical field all my working life. This is the time of the experts, It is also the time of A.I. (artificial intelligence) It is a time when A.I. can greatly speed up processes that took many man hours to complete and greatly reduce costs. We still believe in human intervention to see that everything is correct. In our short term plan we use Professor Szyf’s own laboratory for our DNA testing. Our focus is cancer prevention, rather than any other kind of test. by specialising in cancer we are able to turn tests around very quickly. and is considered the main strength of Heritage DNA Ltd. Professor Szyf has published work confirming that through DNA Methylation, it is possible to provide a DNA warning of impending cancer. At this early warning stage, the cancer has not yet manifested clinically and can be avoided. Via their doctor, patients can gt a detailed report along with a recommendation for change of lifestyle, that at this early stage can be effective in reversing the threat of cancer. All this from helping a friend with his pineapples