Fwd: [wiseweeds] Gangs and Medicinals

[Guest guest]

Thanks to wiseweeds for this info on gangs and endangered species. You know

herbs have gotten popular when organized crime moves in.

 

Victoria

 

>Catherine Novak <cnovak

>wiseweeds

> " wiseweeds " <wiseweeds >

>[wiseweeds] Gangs and Medicinals

>Mon, 05 Jun 2000 15:23:43 +0000

>

>FYI,

>

>Cathy, Wise Weeds

>http://www.freeyellow.com/members6/wiseweeds/

>

>Electronic Telegraph, Sunday, June 4, 2000

>

>Medicinal plants face extinction as

>Russian gangs plunder herb supply

> By David Harrison, Environment Correspondent

>

>CRIMINAL gangs are muscling in on the soaring demand for herbal

>medicines in Britain and other Western countries and threatening

>the existence of many plants, says Professor David Bellamy, the

>leading international conservationist.

>

>Prof Bellamy said that the gangs were using threats and violence to

> take over the harvesting and sales of health-giving plants in former

>communist countries including Russia, Albania and Romania. The

>combination of booming Western demand and criminal

>involvement had pushed up prices and led to serious

> " over-collection " .

>

>Some 200 medicinal plants in Europe - and many more in poorer

>countries - were now endangered species and the list was growing

>all the time, said Prof Bellamy. He said: " It's good that more and

>more people in Britain and other Western countries are turning to

>herbal medicines. But the downside is that the plants are being

>over-collected, often on the orders of mafia gangs, and many of

>them are now in serious danger of being wiped out.

>

> " We must find a way of balancing global need with a responsible

>approach to growing and harvesting the plants. " He added that more

>criminals were moving into the trade. In Russia they were reported

>to be illegally harvesting wild ginseng from protected areas of

>Siberia.

>

>Prof Bellamy, whose father was a pharmacist who made up herbal

>remedies, said: " Russia used to have the tightest conservation laws

>in the world but since the collapse of Communism it's become a lot

>more lax and the criminal elements have been able to exploit that. "

>

>Fifteen million people in Britain are regular users of herbal

>medicines and one in four of all prescription drugs dispensed by

>Western pharmacists are likely to contain herbal ingredients,

>according to recent research. There are now 3,000 herbal medicines

>- excluding Chinese remedies - available in shops and pharmacies in

>the United Kingdom.

>

>Prof Bellamy said: " These God-given plants are vital to the health

>of everyone, especially the world's poor. The issue is now at crisis

>point. Time is not on our side and we need to act now. " One of

>the plants under threat is the Arnica which has been used by

>Britons to treat shock and heal wounds for about 200 years.

> Another, Golden Seal (Hydrastus canadenis), has been gathered

>almost to extinction and is now the fifth most endangered species

>in the world.

>

>Some of the endangered species are household names such as

>liquorice, used for cough medicines, and thyme and oregano, which

>have a medicinal as well as a gastronomic use. Others on the

>danger list are pheasant's eye (Adonis vernalis) used for heart

>problems; yellow gentian, for the digestive system; bearberry, for

>urinary tract disorders; and round-leaved sundew, for respiratory

>problems, bronchitis and asthma.

>

>The Conservation Foundation and Planet Herbs, Britain's biggest

>supplier to medical herbalists, will this month launch a campaign

>urging governments to take the lead in tackling the crisis. The

>decision to launch the campaign was taken at a meeting of

>conservationists, plant experts and manufacturers of herbal remedies

>and health food supplements in London last week.

>

>Prof Bellamy, who is currently in Italy working on his

>autobiography, said: " Europe takes a quarter of the world's imports

>of herbal plants, but our concern is for the 80 per cent of people on

>the planet, the poor, who rely on herbal medicines for their health

>care needs. A bold strategy is urgently required. "

>

>James Fearnley, a director of Planet Herbs, said: " We can only

>succeed by working with and helping those who gather 90 per cent

>of medicinal herbs. Failure would be a disaster for world health as

>well as the environment. "

>

>Planet Herbs and the foundation plan to raise £100,000 for grants to

>encourage scientists, and medicinal plant experts, to carry out a

>global audit of herbal resources and recommend ways of preserving

>and expanding them.

>

>

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>The information in this post should not replace advice given by your

>medical practitioner.

>

 

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