Civilization Destroying Amazon's "Great Pharmacy"

by Mario Osava

The "pajes," as the indigenous shamans call themselves, met in Brasilia last month to approve a "Declaration on the Principles of Indigenous Wisdom" and announced a "closing of the heart" after 500 years of "robbery and devastation." At the same time, they sought respect for their calling in return for the help they are willing to give to white society.

"We know the treatment for many illnesses, many pains that their wise men are unable to cure," the shamans said. "We also know the solution for many agricultural plagues. But this knowledge is being threatened by the greed of the white man who is destroying nature."

In addition, indigenous communities are dying from illnesses that did not exist in indigenous lands until white civilization brought them in, they said.

The shamans were referring to the blood of two indigenous Amazon groups, the Karitiana and the Suiri, marketed in the exterior as genetic material. They also referred to vegetable medicines, long used by the Macuxis in the extreme north of Brazil, patented by a company in Canada.

Patent law justifies the "robbery" of indigenous knowledge, the shamans insisted. The white establishment "passes a mountain of laws," supposedly to protect natives, forests, rivers, and air but actually they have no value because they are never put into practice, they added.

Their complaints against a "civilization that attempted to impose its values upon us and failed in the process," reflects the difficulty of understanding between the two worlds. "We indigenous resist, we maintain our traditions and our respect for the great mother Nature, and because of this they call us savage and lazy," they shamans argued.

Reconciliation appeared difficult given the growth in respect for bio-diversity on the part of "civilization." The validity of indigenous knowledge of various natural resources is now recognized as at least a valid starting point for scientific investigations.

Observers believe that collaboration could advance in the laboratory and, more specifically, in the Amazon itself. Scientists recognize, for example, that Amazonian forests represent a one thousand year old industry that has developed medicines, insecticides, cosmetics, and inestimable quantities of food supplements.

The products already known, very little in proportion to the amount that actually exist, could represent "1,000 times" the income that wood provides, according to the British chemist Benjamin Gilbert, who has dedicated the last 40 years to the study of Brazilian flora, principally that of the Amazon.

Nevertheless, the local economy still pursues development through deforestation, destroying a bio-diversity that offers a much wider range of possibilities.

In the last three decades, the establishment of industry at the expense of many subsidies provoked the growth of Manaos, the Amazonian capital with a present population of 1.5 million, five times more than in 1970, and problems similar to those of a large metropolis made even worse by the lack of sanitation.

Brazil, known as a country of great biodiversity, possesses 56,000 vegetable species, followed by Colombia with 51,000, according to the environmental organization International Conservation. Brazil is also a leader in the destruction of nature and takes little advantage of its rich natural resources.

It is an "immense richness poorly explored" due to the lack of study of fauna and flora in the development of medicines, laments Eloi Garcia, president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation dedicated to medicinal research and the production of vaccines with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.

The resin produced by these trees, according to indigenous popular knowledge, combats tumors as well as inflammations and is also a useful cicatrizant, varnish, and insect repellent.

Tests with oil extracted from the leaves showed effective anti-bacterial activity and excellent fixing capacity in the production of perfumes. In addition, the oil exhibited a possible anti-inflammatory capability to be confirmed a later date, says Guimaraes. But the prospects, including economic ones, are "promising."

Burseraceae trees are abundant throughout the Amazon and represent 10 percent of all the trees in the region. Of the 136 species of the Protium genus, only 17 were studied until now, noted the researcher, lamenting the lack of equipment and incentive to carry out further investigations in Manaos.

To carry out the analysis, Guimaraes had to relocate his laboratory to Rio de Janeiro and Campinas, 100 kilometers from Sao Paolo. "The situation is improving with the purchase of modern equipment by Amazonian research centers, but the process is a slow one," he stated.

The government is planning the creation of a Biotechnical and Bioindustrial Center in Manaos with a focus on development more in harmony with Amazonian potential as well the subsidies that attract television companies to the region.