ders the fact that it costs $1 billion, and requires 10 to 15 years of R&D to bring out a synthetic drug, one has to wonder why put up with it. The Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), a small, non-profit organization, estimates that medicinal plants and microscopic organisms from the Third World contribute between US $30-60 billion a year to the US pharmaceutical industry alone.(Brace 14). On the other side of this discussion there are the United Plant Savers. They are a non-profit organization that is dedicated to saving medical plants. They believe herbs will soon be on the endangered species list. Representatives from the organization say, “There's one sure way to halt the carnage, however. Just go back to using synthetic medicines made from good old chemicals in good old laboratories. Pop a pill, save a plant!” (Pappas 47) Sharply increasing demand, combined with diminishing habitat and a lack of domestic cultivation, putstremendous pressure on wild medicinal herb populations. The National Center for the Preservation of Medicinal Herbs uses the term critical to cultivate to describe medicinal herbs that have been overharvested in the wild to the point that their existence is threatened. They are critical to cultivate because the only way to ensure their future is to grow them, rather than continue to wildcraft them. Herbs valued for their roots—where the entire plant is harvested—are especially vulnerable and are a priority at the Center. Research is being conducted on organic propagation of plants, while wild populations are being protected and nurtured. There are types of compounds that are, “Mother Natures kitchen, end of story.” (Medicine) These compounds are ones that can not be duplicated with chemicals, and can not be synthesized. These plants must be grown in pseudo-natural environments. However when it comes to rain forest plants, it is a different story. "Man cannot ...
