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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Scientist says designer drug makers 'stole' his blueprints | Scientist says designer drug makers 'stole' his blueprints |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| By Neil Bowdler Science reporter, BBC News | By Neil Bowdler Science reporter, BBC News |
| An American chemist has spoken out against the misuse of scientific research to create designer drugs. | An American chemist has spoken out against the misuse of scientific research to create designer drugs. |
| Writing in the journal Nature, Professor David Nichols of Purdue University, Indiana, says he is "haunted" by deaths linked to a drug based on his own research. | Writing in the journal Nature, Professor David Nichols of Purdue University, Indiana, says he is "haunted" by deaths linked to a drug based on his own research. |
| MTA or "flatliners" used a blueprint published by the professor and was sold as a "legal high", drugs which mimic the effects of illegal substances. It has since been banned as a class-A drug in the UK. | MTA or "flatliners" used a blueprint published by the professor and was sold as a "legal high", drugs which mimic the effects of illegal substances. It has since been banned as a class-A drug in the UK. |
| Back in the 1990s, Professor Nichols and colleagues were experimenting with chemicals similar to the one used in the drug ecstasy. | Back in the 1990s, Professor Nichols and colleagues were experimenting with chemicals similar to the one used in the drug ecstasy. |
| The hope was they the research might lead to new drugs to treat depression. He published three papers on the effects on rats of one chemical called 4-methylthioamphetamine or MTA. | The hope was they the research might lead to new drugs to treat depression. He published three papers on the effects on rats of one chemical called 4-methylthioamphetamine or MTA. |
| It later emerged the work had been used to create pills dubbed "flatliners", which were linked with at least six deaths. | It later emerged the work had been used to create pills dubbed "flatliners", which were linked with at least six deaths. |
| But it is only recently that the professor has become fully aware of how the designer drugs industry has been systematically mining his work for recipes. | But it is only recently that the professor has become fully aware of how the designer drugs industry has been systematically mining his work for recipes. |
| "It's not like you took a gun and shot somebody because then you would know you'd been responsible," he told the BBC, "but people were taking something that you had published and I was alerting them that this might be an active molecule." | "It's not like you took a gun and shot somebody because then you would know you'd been responsible," he told the BBC, "but people were taking something that you had published and I was alerting them that this might be an active molecule." |
| Kitchen lab | Kitchen lab |
| Professor Nichols says MTA, and other chemicals he has developed, can be created in a kitchen laboratory. | Professor Nichols says MTA, and other chemicals he has developed, can be created in a kitchen laboratory. |
| "It is something that someone with a PhD, if they're really determined to do it, could probably set up in a laboratory in their kitchen. | "It is something that someone with a PhD, if they're really determined to do it, could probably set up in a laboratory in their kitchen. |
| "If they could get the necessary chemicals, they could make some of these things, but these drugs are being made on a much larger scale than just the occasional chemist with the curiosity. | "If they could get the necessary chemicals, they could make some of these things, but these drugs are being made on a much larger scale than just the occasional chemist with the curiosity. |
| "It sounds like these things have really become a small industry." | "It sounds like these things have really become a small industry." |
| The professor is by no means the only scientist to have his work plundered by the drug makers. | The professor is by no means the only scientist to have his work plundered by the drug makers. |
| He says several synthetic drugs which mimic the effects of cannabis have been developed using data from publicly available scientific literature. | He says several synthetic drugs which mimic the effects of cannabis have been developed using data from publicly available scientific literature. |
| The British authorities have moved to ban a host of "legal highs" in recent years including GBL, BZP and mephedrone. | The British authorities have moved to ban a host of "legal highs" in recent years including GBL, BZP and mephedrone. |
| Mephedrone, which is also known as "meow", was banned last year after it was associated, in some cases wrongly, with a number of deaths. |