Peter Mackenzie, FRPharmS, qualified in 1942 and was designated a
Fellow in 1978. He became a director of Macfarlan Smith Ltd Edinburgh
on its formation in 1960 and was party to the decision to relocate
poppy growing from the UK to Australia. He was managing director until
his retirement in 1984. Since 2001, Macfarlan Smith Ltd has been part
of Johnson Matthey Plc
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Copper sculptures of opium poppies by Peter Hjort, in Devonport,
Tasmania, were commissioned by the Tasmanian Poppy Growers Association |
Earlier this year in Devonport, Tasmania, a unique memorial
was unveiled as a
tribute to the outstanding success of the oil seed poppy (Papaver somniferum)
industry on that island. Equally, it celebrates the
exceptional pioneering work of the botanist, the late Stephen King OBE.
The pharmaceutical significance of these endeavours is that the Tasmanian
poppy industry now supplies about 50 per cent of the world’s morphine,
codeine and thebaine requirements.
The memorial’s unusual structure consists principally of seven representations
of poppy capsules, no less than 16 feet high and made entirely of copper.
When lit up at night they can be seen by both road and river traffic. The
designer and sculptor was Peter Hjort, of Swedish origin, who lives in
the north of the island. He was commissioned by the Tasmanian Poppy Growers
Association and GlaxoSmithKline Australia Pty Ltd and the project took
two years from inception to completion.
The co-operation of local civic and
government officials was necessary from the
beginning and they were present at the inaugural ceremony together with
representatives of the farmers, field officers and processors. The unveiling
took place at the end of March 2004 and Stephen King was there to assist.
Sadly, he died three months later, at the age of 85, having been confined
to a wheelchair in his later years. His important role in the
industry’s success was recognised earlier when he was designated
OBE in 1979 for his
services in the development of the oil seed poppy industry.
Poppy straw
As pharmacists are aware, the traditional source of morphine is opium
and the first recorded evidence of commercial extraction dates from the
mid
1850s. It was much later, in the 1920s, that Janos Kabay in Hungary
investigated the use of poppy straw for this purpose. Following the removal
of the seeds from the ripe capsules for the primary
purpose of culinary use (and also oil extraction) the broken capsule
was
a waste product. Unfortunately, the early trials to obtain
alkaloids, in particular morphine, were not commercially successful because
of the low content. Despite this, poppy straw was used to some extent
in mainland Europe and
mainly in Germany during the 1939–45 war.
In the UK, opium from India and Turkey was used although supplies were
often erratic in the 1940s. It is understood that after the war the Home
Office suggested attention should be paid to poppy straw, presumably
as a safeguard in the event of future hostilities.
As a result, the two principal manufacturers of opium alkaloids (T&H
Smith and J. F. Macfarlan) decided, jointly, to recruit a botanist to investigate
the growing of improved strains of P somniferum in the south and east of
England. Thus it was that, in 1951, Stephen King began what was to be his
life’s work.
Where to grow poppies
The challenge was to establish successful crops of poppies with a much
higher alkaloid content than before. Previously, the aim on the Continent
was to obtain good quality blue coloured seed for culinary purposes,
mainly to export to the US which was, and remains, the largest market.
Stephen set about this task with great enthusiasm, starting with a motley
collection of seeds from around the world. He arranged the growing of
small plots of plants in the UK and then sent the seeds to southern hemisphere
locations, mainly New Zealand.
Poppies in bloom |
In the UK, opium poppies flower in June
or July whereas in the New Zealand they bloom in December or January.
By sending seeds from the north to the
southern hemisphere, therefore, effectively halved the breeding time.
So in relatively few years it was possible, with careful selection of plants,
to
increase the morphine content to a viable level while maintaining the
desirable
colour and quality of the poppy seeds.
However, by the late 1950s, it became clear that the climate in the UK
could not be relied upon to allow harvesting at the optimum stage without
substantially reducing the assay of the crop — morphine was all too
easily leached out of the ripe capsule by rain. This led, understandably,
to the search for a suitable country where the crop could be grown in as
near perfect conditions as possible without commercial or political complication.
Attention was focused on Australia and trials were carried out in several
locations resulting in Tasmania being selected for all
future development. Being an island was an additional favourable consideration
from the point of view of security and supervision.
The critical decision to go ahead with the project was taken in Edinburgh
one afternoon in 1964. The then managing director of Glaxo, Australia,
was there together with
directors of Macfarlan Smith — the latter company having become a
member of Glaxo group a year previously. So it was that, in 1965, Stephen
King emigrated to Australia taking up residence with his wife and family
in Devonport. He was charged with the
responsibility of supervising research and production and the growers formed
the Oil Poppy Growers Association around that time.
Because of the different latitude and length of daylight the strains
of poppies developed for the UK were not suitable and further breeding
work
had to be undertaken. It was some four years later before satisfactory
results were obtained, weed control measures were established and modifications
made to forage harvesters.
About this time, in the early 1970s, a
factory was constructed at Latrobe, Tasmania for the receipt, storage
and processing of the crop. At Port Fairy, Victoria, an existing Glaxo
milk
drying and antibiotic manufacturing plant was modified for alkaloid extraction.
Shortly afterwards, for the first time, the crop produced sufficient
morphine to supply the needs of Australia and New Zealand.
The growing area was then about 600 to 700 hectares and expanding to
reach the
current total of around 15,000 hectares, split between GlaxoSmithKline
and Tasmanian Alkaloids. The latter was a late starter and benefited
initially from the development work done in the earlier years.
Poppies being harvested with a combine harvester |
Many factors have contributed
to the success of the industry. First, the morphine content of the crops
was increased
by some three or four times as a result of successful breeding. There
were hundreds of farmers who correctly viewed poppies as a valuable diversion
from their traditional use of the land. The co-ordinating of the entire
programme depended on the dedication and expertise of the many field
advisory
officers who were employed and who worked closely with the state agriculture
authority.
Finally, there is one further aspect to
mention. In November and December, fields of brilliantly flowering poppies
have become something of a tourist attraction in different areas of the
island. Harvesting takes place six or seven weeks later when the capsules
are
mature.
A concise description of the entire growing cycle is part of the text
on the plaque alongside the giant copper poppies. The heading is “From
vision to reality” thus recognising the life’s work of Stephen
King. Undoubtedly this was a remarkable achievement which can have few
equals. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am indebted to Mike Doyle, research and field manager
of GlaxoSmithKline, Australia, for verification of parts of the text and
for providing the
images.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal