r been provided to indigenous people who helped reveal their knowledge to others. After 1992, laws were made that governed the pharmaceutical companies. A treaty was created that had the idea that indigenous peoples are owners of the traditional knowledge and medicinal plant applications. One hundred countries have ratified the treaty, but the United States has yet to do so. Steven King, senior vice president of ethnobotany and conservation at Shaman Pharmaceuticals, said “Large companies don’t want to share the profits with countries and cultures, and they don’t want to negotiate these contracts with countries. They want complete control over the process.” (O’Connor WWW).Profit sharing was just one of the problems that pharmaceutical companies faced. Shaman Pharmaceuticals began after the treaty was signed. The FDA promised fast track approval for new developmental drugs. They later came back and said that a duplicate phase III clinical trial would be necessary. Further testing would have cost tens of millions of dollars more. The company had developed new drugs for the treatment of viral respiratory infections, herpes, and AIDS related chronic diarrhea. They did not want their new discoveries to be wasted, so they changed the company to Shaman Botanicals. Shaman Botanicals produces herbal remedies, which are not subject to the same testing as pharmaceuticals. Many other companies have started doing the same thing (O’Connor WWW).Plants are used because of their intrinsic chemical, physical, or nutritional properties. Plants are also the main interaction between humans and their environment. The Amazon and many other forests hold a vast collection of useful plants, including medicines, poisons, perfumes, dyes, adhesives, resins, fibers, construction materials, foods, and spices (Alexiades WWW). The following plants and drugs are major discoveries made by ethnobotanists through their r...
