Alpinia galanga to cardamom. The rhizome is a common ingredient in Thai curries and soups, where it is used fresh in chunks or cut into thin slices, mashed and mixed into curry paste. Indonesian "rendang" is usually spiced with galangal. Under the names 'chewing John', 'little John to chew', and 'court case root', it is used in African American folk medicine and hoodoo folk magic. Ayurveda considers "A. galanga" (Sanskrit:-"rasna") as a Vata Shamana drug. Known as ("perarathai") in Tamil, this form of ginger is used with licorice root, called in Tamil "athi-mathuram" ("Glycyrrhiza glabra") as folk medicine for colds and sore
International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants is known to consider open and un-restricted access to the genetic resources of protected plant varieties to be important to the continued development of new varieties. This opinion is indicated in the "breeders' exemption" clause of the Convention, as described above, and was reinforced in October 2005 in a reply to a notification from the Convention on Biological Diversity. In April 2003, the Convention on Biological Diversity asked the UPOV for comment on the use of Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (also known pejoratively as 'terminator genes') as they relate to the promotion of intellectual property rights. In the summary of