Greetings everyone, As many of you know, I've spent the last year speaking at schools across Texas on work that Projects Abroad is doing in the Peruvian Amazon at the Taricaya Research Center. During my presentations, I like to give a quick "overview" of some of the encyclopedia-style "facts" about the Amazon, like biological diversity estimates, deforestation estimates, "tropical pharmacy to the world", etc at the beginning of the presentation. These statements have included the following "facts" that I've retrieved from websites like www.rain-tree.com, which does not cite any sources:
1. The Amazon Rainforest has been described as the "Lungs of our Planet" because it provides the essential environmental world service of continuously recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen. More than 20 percent of the world oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest. 2. Currently, 121 prescription drugs currently sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. And while 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less than 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists. 3. The U.S. National Cancer Institute has identified 3000 plants that are active against cancer cells. 70% of these plants are found in the rainforest. Twenty-five percent of the active ingredients in today's cancer-fighting drugs come from organisms found only in the rainforest. The more I read these claims, the more uncomfortably I am repeating them to students without any assurance of their accuracy. Can anyone here elaborate on some of these claims? For example, I've read where statement (1) is a myth, and rainforest plants don't actually contribute any significant net increase in atmospheric O2. For claim number (2), I'd like to know specifically which drugs come from the Amazon. Number (3) I'm having little luck from the U.S. Cancer Institutes's website. Most importantly, I'm having little luck getting sources from www.rain-tree.com.
