[MPWG] Medicinal plant use perceptions and genetically-modified, cultivated, and wild-harvested resources

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

Below is an interesting article and one person's perspective on the
complexities of medicinal plant use and conservation.  A complex issue,
with no easy answer but one worth discussing and working toward
resolving......

Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority
Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group
US Fish & Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 750
Arlington, VA  22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276
Working for the conservation and sustainable use of our green natural
resources.
<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>

----- Forwarded by Patricia De Angelis/ARL/R9/FWS/DOI on 05/17/2004 12:10
PM -----
|---------+------------------------------>
|         |           "Kat Morgenstern"  |
|         |           <kmorgenstern at sacre|
|         |           dearth.com>        |
|         |                              |
|         |           05/14/2004 04:29 AM|
|         |           Please respond to  |
|         |           kmorgenstern       |
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  |        To:      "Phytomedica" <Phytomedica at yahoogroups.com>, "Ethnobotany" <Ethnobotany at yahoogroups.com>     |
  |        cc:                                                                                                   |
  |        Subject: [Phytomedica] forwarded from GM watch                                                        |
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+ STAY AWAY FROM GM MEDICINAL PLANTS
Gene campaign's Suman Sahai explains why the GM medicinal plants being
developed in India are doomed to failure in a perceptive article at
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3415

She points out that practitioners of traditional herbal medicine try
to source herbs from the wild as the active healing substances are
often "stress chemicals" produced by the plant in response to
challenge from the environment. Such practitioners are sceptical even
of cultivated versions of these plants, let alone GM versions, and if
cultivated versions must be used, the growing conditions need to mimic
those found in the wild and often, specific locations in the wild.
Thus the GM versions, which will be cultivated en masse without
consideration of locality, are unlikely to be effective.

I'd add to this that medicinal herbs owe much of their efficacy not to
one or two "active ingredients", such as Western pharma companies try
to isolate from the plant for patenting, but to many ingredients, some
yet unknown, working together. The synergistic action works to boost
the healing effects while minimising any toxic effects that could be
exerted by any of the ingredients taken in isolation. This balancing
effect may emerge from the plant's need not to poison itself or its
biological allies with its own stress chemicals!

It's obvious that GM versions of these plants will be engineered to
express higher levels of the supposed "active ingredients" - leading
to medicinal herbs which turn out to be every bit as toxic as many
pharmaceutical drugs. With a difference - the toxins, because
biologically rather than chemically produced, will be less
predictable.


Sacred Earth
Educational Forum and Networking Resource for Ethnobotany and
Eco-travel
http://www.sacredearth.com





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