Plant extinctions - the risk to Chinese medicine
As more species of plants become endangered, many traditional Chinese remedies that rely on those plants may be lost:
“xperts have warned hundreds of plants used in the preparation of medicine could be facing extinction.
Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) said as many as 400 plants were at risk from over-collection and deforestation.
More than 50% of drugs prescribed by doctors are derived from chemicals first identified in plants.
BGCI researchers now fear cures of killer diseases including HIV and cancer may never be found.
The BGCI - which represents botanic gardens in 120 countries and is based in Richmond, Surrey - surveyed its members and leading university experts who named 400 plants at risk of extinction.
At risk plants include: yew trees, the bark of which is used in cancer drug paclitaxel; hoodia, which drug firms are looking into to develop weight loss drugs; half of the world’s species of magnolias, which contain the chemical honokiol, used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat cancers and heart disease; autumn crocus, a natural treatment for gout and linked to helping fight leukaemia.
The report also outlines concerns for the five billion people worldwide who still rely on traditional plant-based medicine as their primary form of healthcare rather than the chemical substitutes which much of the developed world uses.”
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