medicinal plants going extinct

Plants that are used as traditional medicines to combat diseases, such as cancers and malaria, are going extinct according the New Scientist.  And, they believe overexploitation is the cause.

Most people worldwide, including 80 per cent of all Africans, rely on herbal medicines obtained mostly from wild plants. But some 15,000 of 50,000 medicinal species are under threat of extinction, according to a report this week from international conservation group Plantlife. Shortages have been reported in China, India, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda.

Most of the harm done to the plants is through over-harvesting, because commercial growers care little about the sustainability.  Other causes are climate, insect infestations, and habitat destruction.  

It is felt that by encouraging local communities, through incentives, that would do more to protect the plants from harm.  By giving them a competitive income to increase their quality of living, they may take greater care in the treatment of the crops and their sustainability.

cancer

I am going to point you to THIS article for a very important read.

Yes, on the surface it looks like an article about the Tasmanian Devil and it’s extinction. And it is. But the subtext is what is so, so critical about this story.

Tazmanian Devils will more than likely go extinct because of a cancer that is spreading through out the species. What research has shown is that because of low biodiversity and genetic variation, the cancer has mutated to be… CONTAGIOUS. I will give you a few minutes to let this sink in. Contagious. We have always thought that cancers are independently caused and created.

The implications of this finding are enormous. Maybe not on human populations, unless our politics and economies segregate us even more. But on our plant and animal populations, absolutely. Think of the homogeneous nature of corn and the proliferation of that cash crop in our world. Think of all the animals currently on the endangered species list, and the limited amount of genes in the population to reproduce.

This is something very serious and needs a lot of scientific attention. You see, we may all think that global change is not going to affect the current species all that much, in our lifetimes. However, if cancer can become contagious… we may just see a change we are not ready for.