ISHS Acta Horticulturae 642: XXVI International Horticultural Congress: Horticulture, Art and Science for Life - The Colloquia Presentations
INDIGENOUS HORTICULTURISTS AND HUMAN HEALTH: AN ETHNOBOTANICAL APPROACH |
| Author: | P.A. Cox |
| Keywords: | ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, cycad, neurotoxin, prostratin, Samoa, Guam, antiviral remedy, folk medicine, ALS/PDC, neurodegenerative disease |
| Abstract:
Indigenous peoples have been adept at identifying and developing plants with bioactive molecules for use in ritual and in medicine. Some of these plants have been found to contain molecules suitable for drug development, and efforts have been taken to ensure equitable sharing of benefits with indigenous peoples. A recent agreement between the AIDS ReSearch Alliance and the people of Samoa returns 20% of the Alliance’s net revenues from the anti-AIDS drug prostratin to the Samoan people. Indigenous horticulturists have also had to learn how to detoxify plants, such as cycad seeds, that are otherwise injurious to human health. The “cycad hypothesis”, developed in the 1960's but later discredited, suggested that cycad neurotoxins in the diet of the indigenous people of Guam was linked to their high levels of neurodegenerative disease. Recent ethnobotanical studies have resurrected this hypothesis, showing that a neurotoxic amino acid bioaccumulates in the Guam ecosystem via cycads. Disease isolates such as ALS/PDC in Guam can be a 'Rosetta Stone' which, if carefully studied, can pinpoint deleterious plant molecules. As indigenous cultures wane, however, the opportunities to learn of both cures and curses from plants used by indigenous peoples are quickly disappearing. | |
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