Threat To Future Medical Discoveries

BORNEO

Plants believed to be effective in fighting cancer, malaria and AIDS have been found in the rainforests of Borneo, according to a recent statement from the Swiss headquarters of the global conservation organization the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), which added that rapid destruction of trees in this area poses a threat to further research into these promising medicinal plants.

The environmental-protection group has received support from several pharmaceutical companies that are interested in the plants, which could contain active ingredients for life-saving medicines. Companies believe they may have found substances that kill the parasite that causes malaria in humans, as well as others thought to slow the spread of HIV. But activists and drug companies are both in a race against loggers, who are rapidly destroying the rainforests of Borneo, often illegally, claims WWF, to meet the growing demand for timber on the world market.