Pharmacy of the Jungle

The Amazon Rainforest produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen and is home to over 40,000 species of plants. It has long been a symbol of fertility and femininity, being the richest biological incubator on the planet. It also represents a mysterious, powerful sacred link between humans and nature. It supports millions of plant, animal and insect species - a showcase of chemical invention. In these natural archives, drugs like quinine, immune system boosters, muscle relaxants, steroids such as cortisone, blood thinners such as Coumadin, antibiotics, antiparasitics and cancer drugs are found. They are the source of some of the most widely used and life saving medications. More importantly, there are new drugs still awaiting discovery - drugs for AIDS, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's. All major pharmaceutical companies as well as many scientific researchers are currently conducting studies on exciting new drugs coming from jungle plants and studying the indigenous plant knowledge and the specific plants used by native shamans and healers. Together with genomics, it is the most promising area of research for new cures today. Many secrets and untold treasures await discovery with the medicinal plants used by shamans, healers and the indigenous people of the Amazon jungle.

Regarded in the past as hocus-pocus by science, indigenous people's empirical plant knowledge is now widely accepted and respected by the scientific community. Rich in beneficial nutrients, phytochemicals and active constituents, the rainforest Indians and Indigenous People have used them for centuries for their survival, physical and mental health and well-being. However, extracting these secrets from the jungles is difficult and time consuming and ancient valuable knowledge and nature’s gifts are being lost at an alarming rate. It is calculated that we are losing 140 species of plants, animals and insects every single day as they become extinct from the loss of rainforest land and habitats through fires, logging, urbanization and intensive mono cultivation. In the last half century we have lost over 50% of rainforest area. How many possible cures are we losing and how many miracle drugs have we already lost?

For the time being, hundreds of beneficial plants that can cure a wide variety of ailments are still being used in Amazonia following knowledge passed from generation to generation and the pharmacy of the jungle is serving millions of people while scientists are still trying to understand them.