Miracle Medicines From the Rainforest
People who scoff at ecologists as “tree huggers” don’t realize that most of our modern live-saving medicines come from indigenous people living in the rainforests of the world?which are rapidly being destroyed. Scientists in Venezuela have started a major project collecting information on the traditional medicines of the Amazon rainforest, before they disappear. They want to create a computer database of the jungle plants that have been used by the people their to cure illness for centuries. They also want to try to save these indigenous cultures so that their wisdom isn?t lost forever.
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