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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government
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A Wealth Of Wild Species - Storehouse For Human Welfare (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R4,487
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A Wealth Of Wild Species - Storehouse For Human Welfare (Hardcover)
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As environmentalists and wildlife enthusiasts argue for
preservation of wild species, they sometimes overlook a most
compelling fact-the survival of wild species directly benefits
humans. Like the Earth's most precious minerals, the planetary gene
pool is a valuable natural resource that is vulnerable to
irreversible harm. Yet, if present trends toward extinction
persist, possibly one-third and conceivably one-half the entire
spectrum of species may be lost to us within another century. What
does this mean? In 1960, a child suffering from leukemia had only
one chance in five of remission. Today, thanks to a drug developed
from an obscure tropical forest plant, the rosy periwinkle, the
odds are reversed and that child has an 80 percent chance. In fact,
each time we take a doctor's prescription to a pharmacy, there is a
one-in-two chance that the medication we collect originated in the
unique properties of a wild plant or animal. Wild species of plants
also hold the promise of revolutionizing agriculture around the
world, and their uses as foods, sources of new chemicals for pest
control, and even new kinds of contraceptives are being developed.
Wild animals likewise have made great-and often little
known-contributions to mankind. Studies of a woodpecker's vertebrae
have led to better design for antiwhiplash equipment in
automobiles, and engineering information derived from studies of
hummingbirds is contributing to improved helicopters.
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