Many jungles and rainforests contain unexplored species of plants that could contain medicinal uses. Ethnobotanists explore how plants are used for things, such as food, shelter, clothing, hunting, and religious ceremonies. These scientists spend long hours of hard time in the field doing research of these plants (King and Veilleux WWW).

Ethnobotanists are usually biologists that have had additional graduate training. They may have had training in things such as archeology, chemistry, ecology, anthropology, linguistics, history, pharmacology, sociology, religion, or mythology. With these skills, they can look at more than just the plant.

Four months out of every year Balick leaves home to go to Brazil, Belize, the South Pacific, and Southeast Asia to learn from the local people. He would like to set up a facility in Micronesia to gain the knowledge of traditional healing. A team of botanists, physicians, and healers would collect plant samples and then analyze them for healing properties. Balick has already established a facility like this in Central America (Gerber and Marandino WWW).

They look at the culture and the resource of it (King and Veilleux WWW).

Besides running the business of Rainforest Remedies, Arvigo and her husband have established a six thousand acres plant sanctuary, where visitors can see the healing plants up close. She likes to share her knowledge as much as possible. Arvigo has seminars in both Belize and the United States about herbs and shares the teachings of Don Elijio Panti with the local healers (Gerber and Marandino WWW).

Indian fever bark from the cinchona tree is used to cure one of the most common jungle diseases, Malaria. The active ingredient in the bark is alkaloid quinine. It was used by the natives of the Andes and Amazon highlands and was brought to Europe by Jesuit missionaries. Alkaloid quinine can be used to treat other fever inducing diseases besides Malaria (King and Veilleux WWW).

Without the rainforests, these and other medicines may not exist. In 1991, a group of physicians in the Netherlands realized that losing the rainforest would be an enormous loss of resources for medicine, so they began the Rainforest Medical Foundation (RMF). The RMF works to save the rainforest and preserve the knowledge of the indigenous peoples (Rainforest Medical Foundation WWW). With the current rate of destruction in the rainforest, medicinals will not even be available for indigenous use (O'Connor WWW). In many situations, the local medicine may work better than the imported expensive western medicine. The knowledge of indigenous peoples is quickly being lost. The traditional healers have extensive knowledge of plants, but due to the modernization of cultures there is a lack of interest and no apprentice to pass on the knowledge. With the help of RMF and other ethnobotanists, the knowledge may survive (Rainforest Medical Foundation WWW).

Rosita Arvigo and her husband worked as naprapaths and had their own healing practice in Belize, but in 1985 she met with Maya Shaman, Don Elijio Panti and changed the course of her career. When Arvigo met Don Elijio Panti he was over 90 years old and did not have an apprentice. Without an apprentice, all of his knowledge would be lost forever. Arvigo begged Elijio to take her on as his apprentice for over a year before he finally agreed, but told her that she must stay indefinitely. She studied with him for the next 10 years. They spent days at a time in the rainforest and he taught her about the plants and the Maya belief of spiritual healing. Together they treated the Shaman's large list of clients, many of them living with Elijio for months (Gerber and Marandino WWW).

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2196
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)