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Page 77
| will continue to take its toll on this potential economic market. |
| A fact that is little understood and even less recognized by the majority of people is that ultimately, a nation's wealth is only as great as its natural resources. Without natural resources, there is no economy. When the water, air and food become so contaminated with industrial waste that they are no longer fit for consumption, it will not matter whether we have a good auto industry or condominiums. When the natural resources necessary for sustenance run out, the quality of life as we know it will cease to exist. It does not have to be this way. Rather, we can invest in the future by developing sustainable economies such as the organic cultivation of medicinal plants can provide. |
| There are an estimated 250,000 species of plants on earth. In comparison, there are relatively few prescription drugs in use today throughout the world. Of these, approximately 74 percent were derived from only 90 species of plants. Worldwide, only 5,000 plants have been studied scientifically, yet the overwhelming majority have been used in some useful way by humakind. Disgracefully, every hour we lose three species of plantsin a day, 75; and every year we lose 27,000 species of plants1,000 times the natural rate of species extinction. With this loss of species, human beings lose out on a vast therapeutic potential that could be used to treat life-threatening illness, prevent disease and improve our quality of life. Did one of those vanquished species include an effective therapeutic agent for Alzheimer's, diabetes, AIDS, arthritis or breast cancer? Unfortunately we will never know, as species after species disappear from the face of the earth forever. |
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