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The Benefits of Studying Medicinal Plants and Ethnobotany (page 7)
by Kimberly Johnson, MD

Every future human activity that utilizes biological resources depends on our stewardship of biodiversity today.

Medicinal Plants: Much to Win, Much to Lose

No subset of biodiversity is so closely linked to humankind's past and future as the plant kingdom, which provides our food supply and also furnishes oils, latexes, gums, fibers, timbers, dyes, and other products we use to clean, clothe, shelter, and refresh ourselves. Healthy assemblages of native plants renew and enrich soils, regulate our freshwater supplies, prevent soil erosion, and provide the habitat needed by animals and other creatures (Tuxill 1999). Large plant assemblages also provide a rich hunting ground for new medical compounds. If we protect and learn about the intricacies of intact ecosystems, we have a great deal to win... and if we fail to do this, we have a great deal to lose.

Fewer than 1-2% of the world's 250,000 flowering plant species have been analyzed for medicinal value. Evolution has created ingenious chemicals not conceived of by humans. Hidden within the plant kingdom are the secrets of hundreds of millions of years of natural adaptation and hundreds of billions of biological experiments that, due to the threat of extinction, are in danger of being forever lost to medical science.

Plants have formed the foundation of the pharmacopoeia of traditional systems of medicine for millennia, and continue to be critically important today. In a study published in 1985, 25% of physician-prescribed pharmaceuticals currently in use contained active ingredients derived from plants (Farnsworth 1985).

The perceived monetary value of the natural resources of local and indigenous peoples throughout the world threatens their natural environments and cultures. It is vital that we realize the potential economic value of saving habitats and indigenous cultures, which far outweighs the lands' value for commercial farming, ranching, timber, or mining. When one argues to preserve biodiversity, one is also arguing to preserve ecosystems. While it is clear that the pharmaceutical value of an ecosystem's plants represents only one component, it is easier to quantify than other ecosystem services (such as clean water or air for human consumption). Thus, the pharmacological properties of plants provides an important indicator of the value of biodiversity.

Sales of plant-based drugs in the US alone were estimated at $15.5 billion in 1990.

The market value of plant-based prescriptions filled in the U.S. in 1980 was estimated to exceed $8 billion (Farnsworth and Soejarto 1985). A more recent estimated market value of total U.S. sales of plant-based pharmaceuticals at 1990 retail prices was $15.5 billion!

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References on this page:

Balick, M.J., E. Elisabetsky, and S. Laird, eds. 1996. Medicinal Resources of the Tropical Forest: Biodiversity and its Importance to Human Health. New York: Columbia University Press.
Articles by authors in the above text:

Tuxill, J. 1999. Nature's Cornucopia: Our Stake in Plant Diversity. Worldwatch Paper 148. Worldwatch Institute, Washington DC.

Farnsworth, N.R. and D.D. Soejarto. 1985. "Potential consequence of plant extinction in the United States on the current and future availability of prescription drugs." Economic Botany. 39 (3):231-40.

Farnsworth, N.R. et al. 1985. "Medicinal plants in therapy." Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 63 (6): 965-81.