|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Eloy Rodriguez: Minding the Botanical Drugstore
| Article
# : |
18729 |
|
|
Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
|
| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1991 |
3,154 Words |
| Author
: |
Joseph E. Brown
Joseph E. Brown is a free-lance writer based in Rockport,
Maine, who specializes in science and natural history. |
When most people become ill, they seek relief at the drugstore, the doctor's office, or the hospital. Eloy Rodriguez, a biochemist at the University of California at Irvine, near Los Angeles, might prefer to roam the desert, the rain forest, or the American northwoods to find a cure ... at least in theory.
There is no doubt that synthetic drugs have revolutionized modern medicine and saved many lives. Most of today's prescription and over-the-counter drugs are not derived directly from plants, as they once were, but instead represent laboratory replications of the earlier formulas. Yet Rodriguez, a researcher, teacher of 500 students, and tireless role model for aspiring Hispanic scientists, believes that there is a virtually untapped source of natural drugs in plants. He admits that drug companies are not beating a path to his door to profit from his discoveries. Yet he feels that even in an age of highly specialized pharmaceuticals, important new formulas may still be hidden in plants, especially desert vegetation. If nothing else, he reasons, low-cost, natural drugs may have a bright future in developing nations, where more sophisticated and expensive synthetics are beyond the reach of the average pocketbook.
Rodriguez estimates that of the 3,000 plant species found in the Sonora Desert of the western United States and northern Mexico, perhaps half have medicinal properties that science has yet to discover or define. Yet for thousands of years they served the original Americans well, long before the first drugstore appeared in their land.
Many desert plants are potential sources of oil, rubber, food, and pesticides, but these possibilities are largely ignored by science. Out of the 3,000 Sonoran species, Rodriguez estimates, only about 150--about 5 percent--have been subjected to pharmacological studies.
Botanical superstars
For almost two decades, Rodriguez has been tramping the Sonora Desert hoping to correct this paucity of research. As he describes his mission, he seeks the "botanical superstar" species of the Sonora. Once they are grown in herbal gardens, and studied, their chemical compounds can be synthesized in laboratories like his own at UC-Irvine.
"I don't advocate harvesting plants from the desert itself," says Rodriguez, who adds that he worries about such threats to the Sonora as brush clearing, development, and
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
