[MPWG] Medicinal value of seed extract of Swietenia mahogoni

[wendy.applequist at mobot.org]

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you in this case.  Swietenia mahagoni is
a CITES II species where logs, sawn wood and veneer sheets are concerned;
neotropical populations of Swietenia macrophylla are CITES II for the above
products and plywood.  Now, the first thought that occurs to me is why
the.... would someone make plywood out of mahogany?  Maybe it's done with
the scraps?  Obviously mahogany is not as common as maple, or it wouldn't be
so expensive, but the current judgement seems to be that enough of it exists
to allow for some sustainable level of logging.  I would argue that seed
collection would be in most cases far less harmful to a tree population than
the removal of mature individuals, and therefore that research on or modest
commercial use of the seeds need not be condemned.  After all, should the
plant turn out to have such an extraordinary medicinal value that demand for
the seeds would become unsustainable, that value would have to be
understood, and some of the active ingredients identified if possible,
before the search for a suitable substitute could begin.  If, to cite the
extreme example, mahogany seeds cured cancer, we would certainly need to
develop a related substitute or means of artificially synthesizing active
compounds -- but that would never happen if the effect was never discovered
because no research was done on uncommon species.
 
Wendy

-----Original Message-----
From: Cafesombra at aol.com [mailto:Cafesombra at aol.com]
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 9:04 AM
To: MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: Re: [MPWG] Medicinal value of seed extract of Swietenia mahogoni


Hello, Cuban Mahogany (Sweietenia mahogoni) is an endangered species.
Whatever it's medicinal value, there are bound to be more approproiate
substitutes.  Why not plant the seeds rather than consume them?
 
CITES regulates international trade in animal and plant species
<http://international.fws.gov/permits/web%20list%20cites.htm> listed in one
of three appendices. The Parties have agreed to criteria and guidance for
amending Appendices I and II <http://www.cites.org/eng/resols/9/9_24.shtml>
, and guidance for including a species in Appendix III
<http://www.cites.org/eng/resols/9/9_25.shtml> . The Parties have also
adopted a resolution <http://www.cites.org/eng/resols/10/10_13.shtml>  on
CITES and timber species. The Parties agreed that before introducing a
proposal to list a tree species in CITES, the proposing country should
consult with other international
<http://citestimber.fws.gov/timber/relatedsites.html> organizations with
competence on timber and forestry issues. They also agreed that any proposal
to include timber in Appendix II or III should indicate what parts and
derivatives of that species will be regulated (see CITES Annotations column
on table below for Appendix-II
<http://citestimber.fws.gov/timber/treespecies.html#appii>  and -III
<http://citestimber.fws.gov/timber/treespecies.html#appiii>  species). Not
all CITES-listed tree species are traded as timber; some are traded as
medicinal or hotricultural specimens (for example, Taxus and palms)

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20040109/193dc85c/attachment.html>