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Annotated Bibliography
Imagine owing a piece of land that held the potential to help supply medicines and cures
for diseases like cancer and HIV. Clearly that potential would be powerful not only to generate
substantial profit, but also to improve humanity. Now imagine the taking the same piece of land,
and modifying to produce hamburgers instead of cures.
When most people think about the destruction of the rain forest, they envision large
companies buying plots of land to exploit for profit by tearing down the forest and building cattle
ranches in its stead, but such is not always the case. Many of the ranches are built and operated
by people indigenous to the rain forest, who are looking for ways to generate income in hard
economical times. Ironically, it is these same people that hold the knowledge of traditional
remedies that could lead to important medical breakthroughs. These people have lived in the rain
forest for thousands of years, depending on it for food, shelter, clothing, and medicine. Their
traditional remedies have lead to important medical breakthroughs and should be continued to be
examined.
A large majority of the most effective drugs on the market are derived from natural
products. The rain forest is a delicately balanced ecosystem home to an untold number of plant
and animal species. The rapid decline of the world’s rain forests will cause plants unique to the
rain forest to face extinction, thus reducing the number medicines that could be derived from
these plants. The rain forests must be preserved for their great pharmaceutical potential. It is
through the help and consideration of the people indigenous to the forests and their knowledge
that conservation will be accomplished.
Crockett, C. (1998). Hunt for healing plants helps save rainforests. Forum for Applied Research
& Public Policy, 13(1), 92.
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This article makes a case for the importance of field studies in areas, like the tropics, with an
abundance of diverse plant life. Studies that focus on native cultures in an effort to better
understand their medicinal uses of various plant species are declared to be of the upmost
importance. Using the life work of Paul Cox, director of the National Bontanical Garden in
Kauai, Hawaii, as an example, Crockett argues that direct contact with natives and observation of
their applications of plants as medicine is the best way to discover new drugs. He does, however,
acknowledge that other methods of drug hunting is cheaper. The article provides good
arguments about the importance of the medicinal knowledge of the indigenous people by
providing examples of medicines that would not have been found without their knowledge.
Gavin, M. (2009). Conservation implications of rainforest use patterns: mature forests provide
more resources but secondary forests supply more medicine. Journal of Applied Ecology,
46(6), 1275-1282.
In this article, Gavin published the results of a study, in which a specified number of households
in Cordillera Azul National Park recorded all use of flora and fauna taken from mature and
secondary forests and tallied the use of each species in predetermined categories. After an
allotted time, Gavin drew the conclusion that while approximately equal quantities of species
were taken from mature and secondary forests, more species were taken from secondary forests
for medicinal purposes, and therefore draws the conclusion that secondary forests are adequate
supplements for mature forests in the pharmaceutical industry. The article also gives an overview
of the pharmaceutical industry in relationship to conservation efforts, outlines the method of
research, data organization and categorization, extensively defines the difference between mature
and secondary forests, and accounts for uncontrollable variables and possible discrepancies.
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While the study seems to be adequately and thoroughly conducted in respect to how local people
interact with the forest, it fails to acknowledge the possibility of undiscovered medicines.
Gay, K. (1995). Rainforests of the world. Santa Barbara, CA: ABD-CLIO.
This book covers a wide array of topics, discussing the different rain forests of the world, causes
of the destruction of the rain forest, people indigenous to the forests, and preservation efforts.
There is also an extensive section containing facts and statistics. Approximately half of the book
is a directory with the contact information and descriptions of organizations working to conserve
the rainforests. While perhaps a bit out of date, this book provides excellent references to find
more current information.
Kallen, S. A. (Ed.). (2006). Rain forests. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press.
A single volume in a series that covers controversial issues, this book is a collection of articles
that discussing the conservation of the rain forest. Covering topics like ecotourism, oil
production, bush meat, and pharmaceuticals, a variety of perspectives are represented. The
articles provide unique and dual perspectives on specific topics concerned with the world’s rain
forests.
King, S. (2003). Biocultural diversity, phytomedicines, and tropical rainforests: The holistic link
from practitioner to cultures of the tropical rainforest. Journal of Alternative &
Complementary Medicine, 9(6), 813-815.
This article, perhaps better considered a photo journal, primarily focuses on the medicinal uses
of the latex sap of Croton lechleri and the plant’s part in the culture of people who are native to
the rain forest. King emphasizes the life cycle of the plant, agricultural aspects and the efforts of
several countries to begin incorporating more traditional medicines into their health plans. The
text was brief, but offered an interesting new view point.
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Newman, E. (1994). Earth's vanishing medicine cabinet: rain forest destruction and its impact on
the pharmaceutical industry. American Journal of Law & Medicine, 20(4), 479.
This article discusses the depletion of the rain forest. It is broken into five sections which inform
about the importance of the rain forest to the pharmaceuticals industry, the rate of disappearance
and losses pertaining to the diminishing forest, causes of depletion, and efforts of preservation,
both private and public. This article gives many statics about the destruction of the rain forest
and its adverse effects. Overall, it is a well rounded article thoroughly describing the relationship
of the rain forest and the pharmaceutical industry from several angles.
Oubre, A. (1996). Plants, property, and people. Skeptic, 4(2), 72.
In this article, Oubre highlights an ethical issue involved with the extraction of plants from the
rain forest for medicinal purposes, whether or not indigenous people should be compensated
when their traditional remedies are key to the discovery of a new drug by a pharmaceutical
company. Oubre examines the productivity of random plant sampling verses research
investigating traditionally medicines, why such research is necessary, answers arguments as to
why the indigenous people might not deserve compensation, and discusses ways in which
compensation could be made. While the article was thought provoking, some of the language is
difficult and not all of the references the author makes are adequately explained.
Reid, W. (1996). Pharmaceutical giant shares the wealth. Utne Reader (87500256), (74), 86-87.
This brief article describes the advantages for smaller, tropical countries to work with private
pharmaceutical firms, using the example of the National Biodiversity Institute in Costa Rica.
Allowing companies to work within their country not only promotes the conservation of their
greatest natural resource, the rain forest, but creates jobs for Costa Rican scientists and generates
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commercial revenue. Though short, the article gives evidence that efforts to preserve the rain
forest are beneficial in many ways.
Service, R. (1999). Drug industry looks to the lab instead of rainforest and reef. Science,
285(5425), 186.
This article reasons that drug companies are beginning to rely more on labs to produce new
compounds from scratch, as opposed to finding them in nature. Motivated by time and money,
extracting and testing natural compounds is a lengthy, expensive process, while thousands of
similar compounds can be quickly created and handled in a laboratory, though the author does
make the point that the diversity of the compounds found in nature cannot yet be produced
synthetically. The article remains unbiased by offering the reader several opposing views to
consider.
Setzer, M., Setzer, W., Jackes, B., & Gentry, G. (2001). The medicinal value of tropical
rainforest plants from Paluma, NorthQueensland, Australia. Pharmaceutical Biology,
39(1), 67-78.
This article is a publication of research methods and experiments done on tropical fauna from
Mt. Spec State Forest in Australia. The results of the experiment are presented in several tables,
depicting levels of antiviral and antimicrobial activity, cytotoxicity and brine shrimp lethality.
While some of the results are confusing, the article gives a good example of research being done
to find new medicines derived from tropical plants.
Terborgh, J. (1995). Diversity and the tropical rain forest. New York, NY: Scientific American
Library, HPHLP
This book provides information about the rain forest as an ecosystem. It considers each of the
different elements of the forest and how they are intertwined, the evolution of the rain forest, and
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how the different elements should be conserved. Heavy language and complex concepts
discourage any uncommitted readers.
Tollefson, J. (2009). Paying to save the rainforests. Nature, 460(7258), 936-937.
Tollefson discuses distribution of funds in Brazil from the Amazon Fund, a plan implemented in
an effort to discourage private land owners from clearing forested land for cattle farms. He
continues to cover how the preservation of the rain forest would result in lower carbon emissions
and where the money in the fund originated. The article provides adequate information about
private landowners and why they are choosing to burn their forests and build cattle farms.