Benefits of the Rain Forest

Rain Forests provide the most powerful and bio-actively diverse natural habitat on the planet. Over 200,000 species of plants thrive in Rain Forests.

According to Michael Blalick, director of the Institute of Economic Botany (part of the New York Botanical Garden), "Of more than 265,000 known plant species, less than 3 percent have been tested for their medical applications, yet out of this tiny portion have come 25 percent of all medicines."

Among these are quinine, muscle relaxants, steroids and cancer drugs.

Quinine, an aid in the cure of malaria, is an alkaloid extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree.

The of various curare lianas has given us the alkaloid d-turbocuarine, which is used to treat such diseases as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and other muscular disorders.

Wild yams from Mexico and Guatemala provide diosgenin and cortisone, the active ingredients in birth control pills. Until recently this plant provided the world with its entire supply of diosgenin.