goods

• the plants of the tropical rainforest include many of the things we eat, such as cocoa, sugar and bananas, cinnamon, vanilla and many other spices
• useful products like rubber, rope and baskets are made from rainforest plants
• some of the chemicals from rainforest leaves, flowers and seeds are used to make perfumes, soaps, polishes and chewing gum
• traditional subsistence farming is about harvesting the goods the rainforest grows and provides, including wild meat and fish, building materials and water
• 20% of the worlds freshwater comes from the amazon basin alone
• the rainforest provides the basin of many of todays modern medicines
• indigenous tribes have always used plant parts, such as bark, resins, roots and leaves to cure many illnesses
• currently, over 120 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from rainforest plants
• 25% of the drugs used just in the developed world are derived from rainforest ingredients, 37% in the USA, yet less than 1% of rainforest plants have actually been tested by scientists
• currently, 25% of the active ingredients in cancer fighting drugs come from organisms only found in the tropical rainforest and scientists widely believe that there may be a cure for cancer in the plants of the rainforest
• in 1980, there were no pharmaceutical companies researching for possible new cures- today there are over 100, therefore the plants need to be used in a sustainable way