Scientists have isolated Isolongifolenone, a natural compound found in the Tauroniro tree (Humiriabalsamifera) of South America, which has been found to be an amazingly effective deterrent of mosquitoes and ticks. The product has been found to be as effective or even more than DEET, a potent and widely used synthetic insect repellent that works by blocking the aroma of human sweat. Isolongifolenone can be easily synthesized from inexpensive turpentine oil feedstock. Aijun Zhang ofthe USDA’s Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory led the research

Tauroniro is found in rainforests in the Guianas, Colombia, Venezuela, and the Brazilian Amazon.This brings in sharp focus the need to protect the rainforests, which is getting a shabby treatment worldwide.

121 prescription drugs sold worldwide are derived from plantsources. You must be familiar with Vincristine, extracted from the rainforest plant, periwinkle. This is one of the world's most powerful anticancer drugs. Incidentally Periwinkleis an Indian plant. Scientists have tested less than 1%of the tropical trees and plants for medicinal properties. A goldmine is waiting to be tapped.

The rich bounty includes the wild relatives of, oranges,lemons, grapefruit, bananas, sugar cane, turmeric, coffee, potatoes, rice,guavas, pineapples, mangoes, tomatoes, corn, avocados, and coconuts. This is only a short list.

Rainforest destruction spells doom for the indigenous people also. An estimated ten million Indians lived in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less than 200,000. It is estimated that in Brazil alone, European colonists have destroyed more than 90 indigenous tribes since the 1900's. Rich tradition nurtured over thousand of years has gone down the drain.

The other day Barry my ecologist friend from UK was pointing out to me that a single pond in Brazil can sustain a greater variety of fish than is found in all of Europe's rivers. He also spoke about the recent discovery of 10 new frogs from the Western Ghats of India, one of the35-biodiversity hotspots of the world. Yes, we are losing forests before we get a chance to study them properly. They hold enormous promise for our future well-being. The possible benefits are mind-boggling. Before signing off I would like to put here a small example. Harvard's Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist Edward O. Wilson over a decade ago put it like this. “Rainforest land converted to cattle operations yields the landowner $60per acre; if timber is harvested, the land is worth $400 per acre. However, i fmedicinal plants, fruits, nuts, rubber, chocolate, and other renewable and sustainable resources are harvested, the land will yield the landowner $2,400per acre”. Let us hope that wiser counsel would prevail over short-term gains advocated by our politicians in their scramble for “development”

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