EDITORIAL
Hawai'i has oceans of biomedical potential

The Pacific ocean holds untold mysteries, and Hawai'i will have a chance to unlock some of them as one of four states chosen to receive a federal grant of more than $1 million a year to "untangle the relationship between human health and the ocean."

That work will include studying mercury in fish, developing a test for the fish poison ciguatera, monitoring water quality and developing new drugs that could treat cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and more.

The money will establish a Center for Oceans and Human Health that links University of Hawai'i oceanographers with doctors from UH's John A. Burns School of Medicine.

This is precisely the direction we want to see Hawai'i take as the Islands move beyond a tourism and service-oriented economy to scientific research and development.

The ocean health grant is just one of several opportunities for Hawai'i to use the expertise of its scientists and its abundant natural resources to make environmental and biomedical breakthroughs that ought to improve life on Earth.