Civilization Destroying Nature's Pharmacy
5/10/98
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Title: Civilization Destroying Nature's Pharmacy
Source: InterPress Service
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 5/10/98
Byline: Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, May (IPS) - Nature is the most illustrious pharmacy in the
world, able to cure illnesses that continue to perplex modern science, but
civilization seems intent on its destruction, say the shamans (traditional
healers) of Brazil.
The 'pajes,' as the indigenous shamans call themselves, met in Brasilia last
month to approve a ''Declaration on the Principles of Indigenous Wisdom'' and
announced a ''closing of the heart'' after 500 years of ''robbery and
devastation.'' At the same time, they sought respect for their calling in
return for the help they are willing to give to white society.
''We know the treatment for many illnesses, many pains that their wise men are
unable to cure,'' the shamans said. ''We also know the solution for many
agricultural plagues. But this knowledge is being threatened by the greed of
the white man who is destroying nature.''
In addition, indigenous communities are dying from illnesses that did not exist
in indigenous lands until white civilization brought them in, they said.
The shamans also denounced the pirating of their wisdom. ''Many plants,
animals, insects, and even our own blood are transported to the outside world
and presented as ''the wisdom of the minds of the 'pajes.' They are then sold
to whomever pays the highest price,'' they alleged.
The shamans were referring to the blood of two indigenous Amazon groups, the
Karitiana and the Suiri, marketed in the exterior as genetic material. They
also referred to vegetable medicines, long used by the Macuxis in the extreme
north of Brazil, patented by a company in Canada.
Patent law justifies the ''robbery'' of indigenous knowledge, the shamans
insisted. The white establishment ''passes a mountain of laws,'' supposedly
to protect natives, forests, rivers, and air but actually they have no value
because they are never put into practice, they added.
Their complaints against a ''civilization that attempted to impose its values
upon us and failed in the process,'' reflects the difficulty of understanding
between the two worlds. ''We indigenous resist, we maintain our traditions and
our respect for the great mother Nature, and because of this they call us
savage and lazy,'' they shamans argued.
Reconciliation appeared difficult given the growth in respect for bio-diversity
on the part of ''civilization.'' The validity of indigenous knowledge of
various natural resources is now recognized as at least a valid starting point
for scientific investigations.
Observers believe that collaboration could advance in the laboratory and, more
specifically, in the Amazon itself. Scientists recognize, for example, that
Amazonian forests represent a one thousand year old industry that has developed
medicines, insecticides, cosmetics, and inestimable quantities of food
supplements.
The products already known, very little in proportion to the amount that
actually exist, could represent ''1,000 times'' the income that wood provides,
according to the British chemist Benjamin Gilbert, who has dedicated the last
40 years to the study of Brazilian flora, principally that of the Amazon.
Nevertheless, the local economy still pursues development through
deforestation, destroying a bio-diversity that offers a much wider range of
possibilities.
In the last three decades, the establishment of industry at the expense of many
subsidies provoked the growth of Manaos, the Amazonian capital with a present
population of 1.5 million, five times more than in 1970, and problems similar
to those of a large metropolis made even worse by the lack of sanitation.
Brazil, known as a country of great bio-diversity, possesses 56,000 vegetable
species, followed by Colombia with 51,000, according to the environmental
organization International Conservation. Brazil is also a leader in the
destruction of nature and takes little advantage of its rich natural resources.
It is an ''immense richness poorly explored'' due to the lack of study of
fauna and flora in the development of medicines, laments Eloi Garcia, president
of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation dedicated to medicinal research and the
production of vaccines with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.
Anderson Cavalcanti Guimaraes is one of the few scientists of his generation
dedicated to the study of Amazonian resources. He graduated from Manaos in
1991 after completing a Master's thesis on the essential oil of three species
of Protium, a tree in the burseraceae family.
The resin produced by these trees, according to indigenous popular knowledge,
combats tumors as well as inflammations and is also a useful cicatrizant,
varnish, and insect repellent.
Tests with oil extracted from the leaves showed effective anti- bacterial
activity and excellent fixing capacity in the production of perfumes. In
addition, the oil exhibited a possible anti- inflammatory capability to be
confirmed a later date, says Guimaraes. But the prospects, including economic
ones, are ''promising.''
Burseraceae trees are abundant throughout the Amazon and represent 10 percent
of all the trees in the region. Of the 136 species of the Protium genus, only
17 were studied until now, noted the researcher, lamenting the lack of
equipment and incentive to carry out further investigations in Manaos.
To carry out the analysis, Guimares had to relocate his labopratory to Rio de
Janeiro and Campinas, 100 kilometers from Sao Paolo. ''The situation is
improving with the purchase of modern equipment by Amazonian research centers,
but the process is a slow one,'' he stated.
The government is planning the creation of a Biotechnical and Bioindustrial
Center in Manaos with a focus on development more in harmony with Amazonian
potential as well the subsidies that attract television companies to the
region.