IN the exciting movie Medicine Man, Sean Conery was a researcher working deep in Amazon.

He discovers a cancer curing plant to cure mankind of the killer disease were dashed – the bad guys torched the jungle to build a road.

The movies presents one aspect of what could happen if the rainforest in the Amazon is destroyed. The plot may fiction but it could well become a fact someday.

Closer to home, a warning almost similar to that in the movies was sounded by the Forestry Department on Monday.

Speaking in Alor Setar, its director-general Datuk Zul Mukhsar Md Shaari said some species of herbs and plants in Malaysia forest could become extinct because of over-extraction for commercial purposes.

He said demand for traditional herbs and plant-based medicines had risen over the years and a staggering RM2 billion sales of such product were recorded last year.

Traditional medicines has been and remains an integral part of Malaysia culture. Is was practiced by the various ethnic groups long before the introduction of modern medicine and many, especially those living in rural areas, still turn to traditional medicine for primary health-care needs.

This is mainly because of poverty and partly because traditional medicines is more culturally acceptable.

It is not just rural folk who turn to jungle herb and plants to cure sicknesses as the Orang Asli are also renowned for their skills in combining herbal remedies from forest products.

" They use jungle plants to cure variety of ills form bruises, bee sting, snake bits, tooth-ache, stomach-ache, rashes, bone fracture to malaria.

For the Orang Asli, up to recently, medicinal plants were the only form of treatment available to them.

However, the problem is not primarily the usage of jungle herbs and plants by the bomoh, villagers or the Orang Asli.

Zul Mukhshar said of greater concern was the extraction of such raw materials from forests o a commercials scale.

Local practitioners and "medicine man" have been expanding their trade in medicinal plants to meet growing demand, and over the years several medium to large scale manufacturers have emerged.

"Everyone is concentrating on logging but our concern is the extraction of jungle herbs and plants on a commercial scale.

"such plant are in high demand for use in traditional medicine. Continuos harvest could lead to their extinction," he said.

Citing the Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia) and Kacip Fatimah (Lobisia pothoina), Zul Mukhshar said both plants were in high demand among locals and for export.

Touted as the local version of the "wonder drug" Viagra, such plants are highly sought after and are now available in capsule form which can be added to food and drinks.

The demand is so high the Sawarak has listed Tongkat Ali as a protected plant.

To prevent more plants and herbs from depleting, the Forestry Department came up with the idea of regulating commercial-scale collection of such raw materials from the forests.

Zul Mukhshar said besides having regulations, herb and plant-based medicine manufacturers might also have to cultivate their own raw materials.

Such proposals are just part of the Forestry Department’s long-term plans to ensure herbs and plants in the rainforest to not become extinct.

One thing which remains clear is that when we destroy nature, we are destroying our own future. The forests must be protected from being plundered.

02/09/1999