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<DIV><SPAN class=078210015-09012004>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.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=078210015-09012004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=078210015-09012004>Wendy</SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Cafesombra@aol.com
[mailto:Cafesombra@aol.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, January 09, 2004 9:04
AM<BR><B>To:</B> MPWG@lists.plantconservation.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re:
[MPWG] Medicinal value of seed extract of Swietenia
mahogoni<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>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?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>CITES regulates international trade in animal and plant <A
href="http://international.fws.gov/permits/web%20list%20cites.htm">species
listed</A> in one of three appendices. The Parties have agreed to criteria and
guidance for amending <A
href="http://www.cites.org/eng/resols/9/9_24.shtml">Appendices I and II</A>,
and guidance for including a species in <A
href="http://www.cites.org/eng/resols/9/9_25.shtml">Appendix III</A>. The
Parties have also adopted a <A
href="http://www.cites.org/eng/resols/10/10_13.shtml">resolution</A> 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
<A href="http://citestimber.fws.gov/timber/relatedsites.html">international
organizations</A> 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 <A
href="http://citestimber.fws.gov/timber/treespecies.html#appii">Appendix-II</A>
and <A
href="http://citestimber.fws.gov/timber/treespecies.html#appiii">-III</A>
species). Not all CITES-listed tree species are traded as timber; some are
traded as medicinal or hotricultural specimens (for example, <EM>Taxus</EM>
and palms)</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>