Millions of lives could be
at risk because the plants which provide the
basis of more than half of all prescription
drugs face extinction, a new report warns.
The loss of plants and
trees which provide natural medicines could
provoke a global healthcare crisis, says
Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).
Potential cures for some of the world's
deadliest diseases - including currently
untreatable cancer - may be lost if the
problem is not checked.
In its report London-based BGCI, which links
botanic gardens in 120 countries, calls for
urgent action to help secure the future of
health care across the world.
It says 70 per cent of all newly-developed
drugs in the United States, the world's
largest and wealthiest pharmaceuticals
market, are derived from natural sources and
despite major scientific advances, human
health is still overwhelmingly dependent on
the plant kingdom.
Sara Oldfield, Secretary
General of BGCI, said: "We are using up a
wide range of the world's natural medicines
and squandering the potential to develop new
remedies. And yet it is perfectly possible
to prevent plant extinctions".
Scientists had predicted
that biochemistry would allow most drugs to
be produced synthetically in the laboratory
but in many cases it has proved impossible
to reproduce the beneficial compounds found
in plants.
The report cites as an
example the world's most widely-used cancer
drug, Paclitaxel, which is derived from the
bark of several species of yew tree. Its
complex chemical structure and biological
function has so far made it impossible to
produce artificially.
Until recently it took an
average of 6 trees to produce a single dose
resulting in the decimation of wild yew
populations across the world. In China's
Yunnan Province, once famous for its yew
forests, 80 per cent were destroyed within a
three year period.
"The dramatic decline in a
range of yew species, highlights the global
extinction crisis that is facing medicinal
plant species." said Sara Oldfield.
Poorer countries will be
particularly hard-hit if trees and plants
continue to be destroyed at the current
rate. The World Health Organisation
estimates that 5.3 billion people - 80 per
cent of the global population - rely on
traditional plant-based medicine as their
primary form of healthcare, and in many
cases collection and sales of these plants
provide their only form of livelihood.
But the report says it is
in the poorer rural areas where trees and
plants are most threatened.
The report's author
Belinda Hawkins said: "The loss of the
world's medicinal plants may not always be
at the forefront of the public
consciousness, however it is not an
overstatement to say that if the precipitous
decline of these species is not halted, it
could destabilise the future of global
healthcare, putting many millions of lives
at risk."
The BGCI has drawn on the
work of some of the world's leading
botanists, conservationists, healthcare
professionals and traditional healers to
identify which medicinal plant species are
most at risk and what steps are needed to
save them.
"Our report calls for
co-ordinated global conservation efforts to
save medicinal plants working with local
communities and drawing on the skills and
expertise of botanic gardens that have been
involved in medicinal plant study since
their first establishment 500 years ago."
said Sara Oldfield.
Hou Po - (Magnolia
officinalis) Origin: South West China
• Contains Honokiol, a chemical that has
been proven to be effective in treating
previously untreatable cancers.
• Honokiol also helps soften blood vessels,
thereby stemming the onset of major
cardiovascular disease.
• Also used to treat senile dementia, by
improving blood flow to the brain.
One of the most ancient
flowering plants, dinosaurs once walked
amongst groves of magnolias. Yet despite
often held up as the species from which all
today's flowers evolved, half of the world's
magnolias are now threatened with
extinction.
Bark from several
different species has been used in
traditional Chinese medicine for up to 5,000
years, where it is considered one of the
most important therapeutic herbs. It's
antioxidant effect, 1,000 times more potent
than Vitamin E, has been proven to
successfully reverse cardiovascular disease,
slow the onset of senile dementia, and even
hold promise to treat a variety of
previously untreatable cancers.
Magnolia bark extract also
has powerful anti-bacterial effects, and
when added to chewing gum kills 63 per cent
of the bacteria that cause bad breath, in
comparison to the traditionally used
peppermint oil, which kills just 3.5 per
cent.
Caterpillar fungus - (Cordyceps
sinensis) Origin: China and Bhutan
• One of the most important species in
traditional Chinese medicine, Cordyceps
extracts have been demonstrated to raise the
oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.
• This has been used to dramatically reduce
the times of Chinese long distance runners,
so much so that they attracted suspicions of
drug use.
• This same ability has been shown to slow
down the decline in aerobic fitness and
energy levels that is associated with old
age.
Cordyceps is a parasitic
fungus that grows in the bodies of various
species of insect and insect larvae in the
tundra of the Tibetan Plateau. Once infected
by the fungal spores, the insect's body
becomes slowly filled by the branching
fungus. The fruiting body then explodes out
of its head, like something from a science
fiction film, to distribute its spores into
new hosts.
Over collection has
drastically reduced Cordyceps populations in
the Tibetan Plateau, with its effects
increasingly visible on the landscape of
this fragile ecosystem.
Autumn Crocus (Colchicum
autumnale) Origin: Europe and North Africa
• Used as an assassin's poison in Ancient
Greece.
• Vital to many plant breeding efforts,
bearing the ability to make sterile hybrids
fertile.
• Recorded as successfully curing leukaemia.
• One of the few effective natural
treatments for gout.
In mid September park
lawns across the country become dotted with
delicate pink flowers, as the Autumn Crocus
comes into bloom.
Yet few would recognise it
as one of the most deadly poisons of the
ancient world. The Ottomans, Romans and
Greeks all used an extract of the roots as
an animal poison, with some sources citing
its widespread use in warfare - for example
poisoning wells. In smaller doses it has a
variety of therapeutic uses, including the
treatment of gout and leukaemia.
Perhaps its most
surprising secret is that it is key to many
modern plant breeding efforts. The same
substance responsible for its toxicity also
has the remarkable ability to render
highly-manipulated sterile hybrids fertile
again, working by doubling the chromosome
number.
However the stunning
petals of the Autumn crocus may prove its
undoing, as it is under grave threat from
over-harvest for the horticultural trade and
habitat loss.
Chinese Yew (Taxus
wallichiana) Origin: South West China
• The source of the world's most popular
anti-cancer drug.
• Sacred to the Celts, as the tree of
eternal life.
• Paradoxically all parts of the tree are
also deadly poisonous.
• Shakespeare, Keats, Wordsworth, Tolkein,
Agatha Christie and JK Rowling have all sung
its praises.
The Ancient Celts planted
yew in graveyards and buried its branches
with their dead, believing that it had the
power to grant eternal life. Many of these
trees still exist in the churchyards that
were built directly on top of ancient Celtic
sites, and are now counted as some of the
oldest trees in Europe, with a lower
estimate of 2,000 years.
It is a compound extracted
from yew that is leading the fight against
breast, ovarian and lung cancer. Taxol,
found in the leaves and bark of yew trees is
the key constituent in many chemotherapy
regimes, used in the world's number one
selling breast cancer drug.
However since the
discovery of this action in the 1960's,
there has been a precipitous decline in
several yew species. With the bark of 6
trees needed for just a single dose of the
drug, the global clear cut felling of these
trees for their medicinal properties has
left many teetering on the verge of
extinction.