MEDICINAL-PLANTS AS SOURCES OF NEW THERAPEUTICS

Indigenous peoples traditionally use a wide range of plants to maintai n their health. Modern medicine has benefited substantially from anecd otal results of their empirical methodology by selecting needed candid ates for a currently inadequate pharmacopeia to treat large numbers of illnesses. When the rapid destruction of diverse tropical forests, wh ere the majority of cultured peoples using traditional medicine live, is related to the recent upsurge of interest in finding new antiviral, antineoplastic, and other agents, there is ample reason to justify le arning what plants people use, how they use them, and under what circu mstances the plants prove efficacious. These often ignored ethnobotani cal findings set the stage for targeting plant materials that can be m eaningfully analyzed for activity using appropriate biodirected assays and, when these are significant, for chemical isolation and character ization of active principles. Examples of ethnomedicinally selected we stern Amazonian plants used by Jivaro Amerindians having potential val ue by modern medical standards are described and evaluated.