Twenty-five percent of all prescription drugs from plants originated in tropical forests. Many of our "wonder drugs" have been used for centuries by primitive tribes. Over 276 million medical prescriptions written in the U.S. in 1973 were based on just five pure compounds which come from tropical forest plants.
One of the stars of our tropical medicine chest, the rosy periwinkle, a plant from the tropical forests of Madagascar is very effective against some forms of childhood leukemia, and Hodgkin's disease. Another miracle plant, the Mexican yam, found only in tropical forests, gives us diosgenin. This compound is used in the manufacture of cortisone and hydrocortizone for the treatment of a variety of ills including certain skin diseases, arthritis, colitis, and rheumatic fever. Plants and animals are an almost untapped collection of new chemical compounds. The tropical forest is the ultimate natural resource. There is no substitute. And it is vanishing.
