Documentary explores Borneo for possible anti-HIV medicine

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Documentary explores Borneo for possible anti-HIV medicine
mongabay.com
June 27, 2006

Rainforest plants have long been recognized for their potential to provide healing compounds. Indigenous peoples of the rainforest have used medicinal plants for treating a wide variety of health conditions while western pharmacologists have derived a number of drugs from such plants.

However, as forests around the world continue to fall there is a real risk that pharmaceutically-useful plants will disappear before they are examined for their chemical properties. Increasingly, it is becoming a race against time to collect and screen plants before their native habitats are destroyed.

A new documentary, produced by Mediasource News, takes a look at one such species from deep in the jungles of Borneo.

Don Hayes, host and guide of the Eco-Traveler Safari of Sarawak adventure series, takes viewers on a journey through the forests of Borneo in search of the potential life-saving plant. Along the way, Hayes and his team encounter mysterious Penan and Iban medicine men, blood-sucking leeches, taboos that drive away their porters, and rapids that threaten the very expedition. Still, nothing can deter the team from pursuing their goal.

A preview of the documentary, now available on DVD, can be seen at www.eco-travelersafari.com

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Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)

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