Rainforest romanticism is derailing our hunt for new drugs

The more pristine the forest, the more attractive it looks to conservationists. The reality is more complex, argues an eclectic new book, The Ethnobotany of Eden

Venom from giant centipedes can help treat neurological conditions

Michael D. Kern/Naturepl.com

By Adrian Barnett

IN MY taxi to the airport, the talk has turned to rainforests and whether cutting them down is bad. “Its not like here in the UK, where we know everything,” I say, waving at the soggy countryside. “I work in Brazil and we don’t know what’s in many forests. Cutting them down to grow soya can be a huge loss.”

That doesn’t impress the taxi driver, who left his country because of famine. I go on: “Then there’s all the medicinal plants in rainforests.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23831830-900-rainforest-romanticism-is-derailing-our-hunt-for-new-drugs/