Rainforest Medicine:

1.)Quinine:

• Origin: cinchona tree (S. America)
• treat malaria

2.)Neostigmine

• Origin: Calabar bean (Africa?)
• used to treat glaucoma and provides a blueprint for synthetic insecticides

3.)Novacaine, cocaine

• Origin: coca plant (South America)
• local anesthetic, cocaine served as a blue print for less toxic, less addictive anesthetics

4.)Turbocuarine

• Origin: curare liana (America)
• Originally used by natives to poison arrow tips. Muscle relaxant for surgery, to treat muscle disorders like Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.Cannot be synthesized in the lab.

5.)vincristine, vinblastine

• Origin: rosy periwinkle (Madagascar)
• pediatric leukemia, Hogkin's disease

6.)Cortisone

• Origin: wild yams (Central America)
• active ingredient in birth control pills