the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (csir) has objected to a patent granted by the American patent and trade marks office. The patent obtained by Suman K Das and Hari Har P Cohly of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, us, relates to the use of turmeric in wound healing. According to the csir, the patent (No 5,401,504, March 28, 1995) did not fulfil the criteria of novelty and non-obviousness, the two basic requisites for any patent. The csir officials said that turmeric is used as a traditional medicine in India and the fact that it cures various sprains and inflammatory conditions has even been acknowledged in the patent. The authorities said that the wound healing properties of turmeric had been reported in the Journal of the Indian Medical Association in 1953 itself.