Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin reminded the audience during a Voices of Discovery lecture April 7 that many antibiotics come from nature and that preservation of the rainforests is essential for future advancements in medicine.
Plotkin has worked for more than 20 years with the shamans of Central and South America to learn about their powerful healing traditions. He said no culture has all the answers to the mysteries of medicine, but that Western cultures often dismiss the shamans’ medical techniques as primitive or ineffective.
“The Western medical community fears traditional medicine for two reasons,” Plotkin said. “One, they’re afraid it won’t work, and two, they’re afraid it will.”
Plotkin said 80 percent of all antibiotics come from the soil, and that shamans have found effective treatments for illnesses such as herpes and cancer by turning to nature.
“Many recently ‘discovered’ drugs have been used for generations by tribesmen for medicinal purposes,” Plotkin said. Two drugs effective against childhood leukemia and ovarian cancer are derived from plants shamans have been using medicinally for hundreds of years.
Plotkin, who has been hailed by Time magazine as an environmental “Hero for the Planet,” warned the audience against indifferently shrugging off news of a plant or animal species becoming extinct.
“Abbott Laboratories is developing new pain killers from frogs,” Plotkin said. “A gila monster’s saliva contains a compound that affects the level of sugar in the blood,” making it a potential ally in the fight against diabetes.
Plotkin’s group, the Amazon Conservation Team, works with indigenous peoples in South America to preserve the rainforests. Indigenous peoples control more than 25 percent of the Brazilian Amazon and their knowledge of the terrain has helped government officials eliminate clandestine airstrips that are used for drugs and weapons trafficking.
Plotkin says it will take an international effort to save the rainforests and working closely with the indigenous peoples of Brazil is crucial.
“It’s my belief that this holistic approach is the best way to save the rainforests’ plants, animals and peoples.”
Plotkin spent two days on campus this week, meeting with students in classes and various informal settings.
The Voices of Discovery science speaker series, sponsored by Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, invites noted scholars in science and mathematics to Elon to share their knowledge and experience with students.
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