There has always been an awareness among many of the ethnobotanists, natural pharmacists, herbalists, and other rainforest trekkers, that traditional healers have something the Western world wants- knowledge about the medicinal properties of native plants. Too often, though, the professional medical skeptics or the prescription drug giants have ignored the potential windfall of effective natural medicines the forest has to offer us today, even in the midst of the modern pharmaceutical revolution. However, the large players in the drug market, mainly the drug cartels, are slowly but methodically making their way back to the wild, sending in bioprospectors and scientists to cover the world's last remaining forests, and commiserate with the indigenous healers and glean their precious herbs and plants, in hopes of finding the clues to the world's next "blockbuster" drug.

Those enlightened individuals in this field who have been leading the way to unlocking the secrets of rainforest botanicals without violating the cultural ways of the indigenous people are the vanguards of this new "old" science. Their mission is not to submit to the giants in hopes of cashing in on a medicinal "hit" that may develop into a successful pharmaceutical drug some day. Mainly their passion is to investigate plants for medicinal use, continue to research active chemical compounds which may verify the traditional uses of medicinal plants, and conduct educational programs that will bring awareness and stewardship to this ancient wisdom of healing.

Doctors, pharmacists and other health care practitioners, are very familiar with the legend drugs that are used every day that have their origin in plants. The most common ones are: ergotamine, quinine, curare, ephedrine, digitalis, atropine, senna, morphine, vincristine, cortisone and aspirin. These are well-established and useful drugs that have stood the test of time.

Today, as many green scientists and complementary health care practitioners return to the rainforests time and again, they are revealing many rudimentary plant medicines that may have relevance in today's high-tech medical community. These natural products are not "better" or "healthier" than their synthetic counterparts, they are simply additional "choices" that the consumer and patient can make to enhance their own well-being and state of health. Some of the leading "recent" remedies from the rainforest that are making their way to pharmacy and health store shelves all across the country are:

Cat's Claw (Una De Gato) This woody "vine of life" was widely used by the Ashanica Indians of Peru for centuries. It is believed to have "life-giving" properties. Because it was found to have significant immune-stimulating characteristics it has received enormous demand among Europeans infected with HIV after reliable reports on its clinical use with AZT in treating AIDS. In addition it has been found to improve immunity in cancer patients and have anti-inflammatory activity for people suffering with arthritis or asthma.

Red Gumbolimbo Bark This tree is one of the most abundant and interesting species in parts of Central America (Belize). Locally, it has been successfully used for internal and external infections. A tea made from the bark is also used to treat urinary tract infections. The most exciting new use of Gumbolimbo bark is for the effective treatment of topical psoriasis, eczema, insect bites, and fungus. The raw compound can be mixed with aloe, vitamin E, and cortisone or calendula to make a highly efficacious topical cream. This compound is a good alternative to hydrocortisone and other steroid-based creams and ointments. Jungle Salve is a product of Belize, and an effective Jungle Salve Compound is made by Danaura Enterprises in Wildwood, PA.

[A double-blind study was done in 1999 on the "Assessment of the Effectiveness of Jungle Salve in the Treatment of Skin Disease" at the Jos University Teaching Hospital in Jos, Nigeria, West Africa. The patients were divided into two groups- those with chronic eczema and those with dermatitis, characterized by inflammation, itching, and hyperpigmentation. After three weeks of treatment the eczema patients showed a complete disappearance of symptoms and the hyperpigmentation group showed complete remission of symptoms except in one case.] For a copy of this study or to order Jungle Salve call 1-877-289-7478 or visit www.nutrifarmacy.com

Jackass Bitters The leaves of this common Central American tall, bushy plant contain a potent anti-parasitic agent (sesquiterpene dialdehyde) that is active against amoebas, intestinal parasites, candida and giarrdia. It is taken internally as a tea or a wine. Now available in the U.S. (1-877-289-7478), this valuable pioneer species can be of enormous benefit to people for the prevention and treatment of amoebas, parasites and stomach upsets. These afflictions are much more common among Americans than previously thought, and they are rarely diagnosed by physicians unfamiliar with the dangerous symptoms of intestinal worms and parasites. Jackass Bitters is the primary ingredient in "Traveler's Tonic," a Rain Forest Remedies product made by Dr. Rosita Arvigo at the Ix Chel tropical Research Centre in Belize. "Traveler's Tonic" is used by tourists suffering from Montezuma's revenge or malaria.

Wild Yam Although this homely little tuber is one of the most illustrious and highly researched plants in all of Central America, it is becoming a popular herbal medicine for a use much different than the original research detailed. In the 1930's, an American biochemist Russell Marker, extracted Dioscorea Composita from the wild yam. This tuber is known to contain steroids and triterpenes. A close relative, Mexican Yam, contains diosgenin, a steroid precursor which can be converted to progesterone and then synthesized. This discovery enabled the development of synthetic hormones, useful, for example, in the birth control pill (Griggs 1981). Today, wild yam cream, capsules and sublingually liquid is used by millions of women for its benefit of relieving menopausal and perimenopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness and night sweats.

Maca Root Pure Maca (Lepidium meyenii) root comes from the Peruvian Andes, and has been referred to as "Peruvian ginseng." It is a member of the brassicacaea family (cabbage). Maca provides a wealth of vitamins, minerals, and sterols. It has been used for centuries as a "cure-all" type medicine that is highly popular with middle-aged and elderly men. Maca is believed to improve physical strength, increase fertility and reduce stress. Most interesting is its support of normal sexual function in older men and post and perimenopausal women. Maca root has been shown to balance estrogen and testosterone levels. Although it contains no hormones, it works through its alkaloids which balance the hypothalamus and pituitary glands and supports optimum function of the testes, ovaries, and adrenals. However, the literature on Maca is scant and most sexual claims are only a few decades old. Since Maca is more a food than a medicinal herb, dosage may vary enormously from one source to another. More investigation should be done before maca can be widely recommended.

Pau D'arco has been used for at least a thousand years by Brazilian Indians. The bark is used for treating skin diseases such as eczema, psoriasis, fungal infections, and topical cancer. The clinical use of pau d'arco for the treatment of cancer was done in Argentina and was found to have significant activity against some kinds of cancer following oral administration. It was also useful in treating pain associated with cancer and increasing the amount of red corpuscles. Its current use as an antifungal is the most common, but as a potent immune booster it may have future use as an antitumor agent.

Guggul Guggulipid is the standardized extract of the sap of the mukul myrrh tree in tropical India. Its traditional use for atherosclerosis dates back to 600 B.C. Several reliable clinical trials have confirmed that guggulipid has an ability to lower both cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Typically, triglyceride levels dropped 14 to 27 percent in a 4-to-12-week period. The LDL "bad" cholesterol and triglycerides dropped from 25 to 35 percent. It is apparent that the continued use of guggul for cholesterol may be of distinct advantage over statin prescription drugs that have negative effects on the liver.

These few products represent a small fraction of the myriad of potential plant medicines that the rainforest can yield. The greatest resource in our efforts to garner health-sustaining and disease-fighting medicines is the preservation of traditional knowledge from the many indigenous healers who still practice in many parts of the world. "Tribal knowledge represents tens of thousands of years of human experience," states Dr. Paul Alan Cox, ethnobotanist and director of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens in Hawaii. Dr. Cox further emphasizes that more than 50 drugs in worldwide use were "discovered" by the shamans, tribal healers and witch doctors of the indigenous peoples in forests, deserts, and tropical islands. Dr. Mark Plotkin, ethnobotanist and director of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), relents that "we are on the precipice of losing a vast amount of knowledge. If we do not garner this wisdom in the next twenty years or so, then it will be as if the library burned down- it will be lost forever."

But many dangers abound. Traditional knowledge of potentially powerful healing plants could disappear in this millennium if safeguards are not established and implemented. Besides the incessant destruction of the world's tropical rainforests, there is also a rapid disappearance of the languages and cultures of such people. During this century more than half of the world's 6,000 languages may vanish, and with them important skills and knowledge.

Many herbalists, ethnobotanists, ethnopharmacists, and medical researchers believe it is still crucial for scientists to look beyond our Western tradition of scientific knowledge and to look seriously at tribal knowledge. It would be short-sighted to lose this knowledge now, just when we have developed the scientific tools to evaluate it as a source of new drugs, new crops, and new healing techniques-not to mention the ecological insight and conservation techniques. Ethnobotanists have found powerful cures for Hodgkin's disease and childhood leukemia on one "healer's plant," the Madagascar rosy periwinkle. A Cox colleague once calculated that the commercial value of tropical rainforest drugs as yet undiscovered could be more than $150 billion.

So, slowly, but surely, drug manufacturers, researchers for universities and other companies, herbal and natural products manufacturers, and others are returning to the world's rainforests, meeting with the indigenous healers, and looking for profitable ways to discover new drugs, but also to return something to the traditional culture and its preservation. New discoveries in "plant medicines" or "natural products" could be one of the biggest medical booms of the 21st century.

One of the more exciting stories regarding the hopeful reintroduction of natural products into the Western market involves Shaman Pharmaceuticals, a small natural products research center located in California. Shaman struggled for many years trying to get FDA approval on a number of jungle products from Belize and the Amazon. Unfortunately, their products never got past the final stages of federal approval. Hopefully now, Shaman will strike it rich with their new drug for diabetes, called Traveler's Palm. Traveler's Palm, a cousin of the banana plant, has been shown to be effective for type-2 diabetes. It has been shown to be more effective than Glucophage, the Rx drug of choice for diabetes in America. Glucophage, or metformin, is itself derived from goat's rue, a southern European plant. Once approved by the FDA in 1995, Glucophage has grossed more than $590 million for Bristol-Myers Squibb.

For years the major pharmaceutical companies resisted investing money, time and labor into returning to the rainforests of the world to continue the search for the next "blockbuster" drug among the herbs, shrubs, and plants that grow there. In fact, according to The American Botanical Council there were zero major pharmaceutical companies investing in natural rainforest product research in the early 1980's. But today, more than half of the world's 250 pharmaceutical manufacturers have research-based programs involving bioprospecting, sample collection, and laboratory testing of jungle plants. And finally, many of the indigenous healers of the forest are beginning to be looked at with more respect and dignity for the time-honored knowledge that they harbor.

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