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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Overharvesting Threatens the Booming Herbal Industry
  • Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 17:51:36 -0700

Overharvesting Threatens the Booming Herbal Industry
by Christina Zarrella
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?1385

Officers confiscated plants with a market value of $250 to $500 per pound
from two homes in New York. In Indiana, a two-year investigation led to the
issuing of search warrants, misdemeanor charges and the bust of six
traffickers. Ordinary drug dealers? Not quite. In both cases the plants
seized were not marijuana but illegally harvested wild ginseng.
Welcome to the commercial traffic in medicinal plants, a booming industry
that boasts millions of dollars in sales per year in the U.S. alone. As the
popularity of herbal products has grown, several plant species used for
medicinal and aromatic purposes have become victims of overharvesting, and
many are already threatened by habitat loss. The problem will only get worse
as recent studies point to the use of such plants as black cohosh to treat
cancer and menopause discomfort. United Plant Savers, a nonprofit
educational organization, has put many popular species such as American
ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), echinacea
(Echinacea ssp) and goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) on its list of
critically threatened medicinal plants.

Echinacea is just one of the popular medicinal plants that is threatened by
over-enthusiastic wild harvesting. Other increasingly endangered botanicals
include black cohosh and goldenseal.
©Photo to Go
The medicinal and aromatic plant industry is aware of the threats and has
created a unique assembly called the Medicinal Plant Working Group (MPWG).
Formed in 1999 to respond to increasing industrial demand, MPWG works
closely with the Plant Conservation Alliance. Members include
representatives from industry, government, academia and environmental groups
The goal is to balance the often-fractured relationship between plants,
harvesters, native people and consumers and to self-regulate the industry.
“Plants teach us to be respectful of nature. The issue of sustainability is
a central concern and we’re studying the use of plants such as goldenseal
and black cohosh,” says Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal
Products Association and Chairman of the Industry Committee of the MPWG.
Trish Flaster is chairwoman of MPWG’s Conservation and Ethnobotany
Committees, which are scientifically monitoring native medicinal plants. “We
have a program composed almost entirely of volunteers who collect data,” she
says. “We record the size and width, note companion plants, dig and weigh
roots, and record locations so we can learn about regeneration. We need to
get an idea of what’s sustainable, and we need to preserve plants of
cultural significance.”
Questions about corporate responsibility, sustainable harvesting and
indigenous partnerships were the focus of the second annual Industrial
Leadership for the Preservation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants symposium,
held in Philadelphia last October.
Mark Blumenthal of the American Botanical Council reminded the delegates
that “plants have been used for hundreds of thousands of years. We must be
concerned about the destruction of the cultures that brought these plants to
us.” Indeed, according to Dominique Conseil, president of herbal products
company Aveda, the symposium evolved from a focus on biodiversity and
habitat destruction to embrace the human elements. “Sustainability begins
with individuals, and individuals need to work together to create a
transformation,” he said. “We need to think holistically, listen to
indigenous voices and not forget the biological connection between people
and plants. Nature provides the best model for business and the solution to
sustainability concerns.”
MPWG’s “Elders’ Circle,” composed of indigenous people who represent the
native perspective, was well represented at the conference. “We humans plan
for us,” said Leon Secataro, a man of Canoncito Navaho heritage, “and we
never really consider the animals and the plants, although they are
essential for our survival. We need to bring indigenous knowledge and modern
science together.” Secataro believes we must look 500 years and beyond
regarding sustainability and our environment. “Humans are the last comers to
the Earth and we have been given intelligence that is supposed to enrich our
path,” he says.
Secataro is not the only member of the Elders’ Circle who issued reprimands
to the medicinal and aromatic plant industry. “There are a lot of greedy
people not talking from their heart,” said Susan Burdick, a woman of
Yurok/Karuk heritage. “The world we live in is a circle, and when you
overharvest, you are breaking the circle.”
Tis Mal Crow, a man of Cherokee and Hitchiti descent, said the industry does
not have sufficient respect for the plants used in the commercial process.
“Black cohosh is not grown commercially, it takes five years to mature, and
last year 350 tons of it was harvested every week. That is not sustainable.
Medicine must be treated with respect. When native people harvest plants, we
sing songs and say prayers.” Crow is also concerned with the human side of
the industry. “There is a difference between buying and partnering.
Partnerships are the key to good business relationships between native
people and companies. We have to get over the past and move on together.”
Josef Brinkman of Traditional Medicinals indicts every person in the supply
chain as being responsible for overharvesting. “Social sustainability is a
prerequisite for environmental sustainability,” he says. “There has been a
rise in ethical consumerism. Organic and fair-trade certifications allow
consumers to recognize products made in ethically and ecologically conscious
manners.”
There are obstacles in this idealistic approach. According to Bhishma Subedi
executive director of the Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and
Bioresources, “With certification come higher expenses for the producer.
Many small producers cannot afford the costs to obtain certifications, even
though their products deserve the distinction.”
If overlooked, this problem could force small wildcrafters into a cycle of
poverty. As buyers demand certifications for an ecologically and socially
conscious public, small producers will have trouble selling their goods
without them. Nevertheless Subedi remains optimistic. “Long-term, stable
relationships will be the basis for sustainable and fair trade,” he says.
“There is still a lot to be done,” concedes Conseil, “but there are no true
obstacles.”







  • [Livingontheland] Overharvesting Threatens the Booming Herbal Industry, Tradingpost, 02/28/2004

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