http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-na...180959473/
EXCERPT: [...] Contrary to some perceptions, folk medicine is more than pseudoscience. “The traditional ethnobotanical knowledge from these indigenous cultures is responsible for many of the drugs that we have today,” Thomas Carlson, associate teaching professor at the University of Berkeley’s department of integrative biology and the curator of ethnobotany at the Berkeley Natural History Museum’s University & Jepson Herbaria, tells Smithsonian.com. Berkeley holds over 2 million botanical specimens from all over the world, many of which inspired or are used in present-day pharmaceuticals.
[...] Despite the availability of synthetics that mimic the active ingredient of nature’s best cures, today many medicines still actually contain phytochemicals, or compounds found in plants. It’s estimated that at least ten percent of major drugs sold by major drug companies contain major compounds that are still derived from plants. Some, like the active ingredient in quinine, which is still used to treat malaria, can’t be effectively synthesized. And that’s not to mention the plants used in herbal remedies like the ones you could find in a health food store or botánica.
So what happens when those plants go away? “Climate change will impact species and ecosystems all around the world,” says Carlson. As the Earth warms and precipitation levels change, plants may be displaced or lost forever. And pharmeceutical companies who rely on phytochemicals to make medicines won’t be the only victims of such changes. Carlson, who helps integrate indigenous perspectives into ethnobotanical research, tells Smithsonian.com that though local, rural populations contribute least to climate change, they run the risk of being most affected when their traditional healing methods disappear....
EXCERPT: [...] Contrary to some perceptions, folk medicine is more than pseudoscience. “The traditional ethnobotanical knowledge from these indigenous cultures is responsible for many of the drugs that we have today,” Thomas Carlson, associate teaching professor at the University of Berkeley’s department of integrative biology and the curator of ethnobotany at the Berkeley Natural History Museum’s University & Jepson Herbaria, tells Smithsonian.com. Berkeley holds over 2 million botanical specimens from all over the world, many of which inspired or are used in present-day pharmaceuticals.
[...] Despite the availability of synthetics that mimic the active ingredient of nature’s best cures, today many medicines still actually contain phytochemicals, or compounds found in plants. It’s estimated that at least ten percent of major drugs sold by major drug companies contain major compounds that are still derived from plants. Some, like the active ingredient in quinine, which is still used to treat malaria, can’t be effectively synthesized. And that’s not to mention the plants used in herbal remedies like the ones you could find in a health food store or botánica.
So what happens when those plants go away? “Climate change will impact species and ecosystems all around the world,” says Carlson. As the Earth warms and precipitation levels change, plants may be displaced or lost forever. And pharmeceutical companies who rely on phytochemicals to make medicines won’t be the only victims of such changes. Carlson, who helps integrate indigenous perspectives into ethnobotanical research, tells Smithsonian.com that though local, rural populations contribute least to climate change, they run the risk of being most affected when their traditional healing methods disappear....