UNEP-organised Business for the Environment conference in Singapore was attended by 600 business executives and environment experts in the two-day conference, which ended on Wednesday.
One of the main discussions was the book Sustaining Life, based on the diverse yet vital component of our life. The book is supported by UNEP and various other organisations. Written by more than 100 experts, the book unfolds the mysteries of nature with the danger of loosing life, many of it remains undiscovered till today and it comes with a warning that it may get too late before we understand the secrets of life.
The book reveals that time has come for the world to reverse the present alarming rate of biodiversity loss as new generation of antibiotics; new treatments for thinning bone disease and kidney failure, and new cancer treatments will be lost.
It suggested that developing new kinds of safer and more powerful pain killers’ treatment for a leading cause of blindness called macular degeneration and to look into possibilities to re-grow lost tissues and organs by studying newts and salamanders; for which nature’s womb carry the secret.
But it may be too late when we will realise this after loosing many of the land and marine-based life forms of economic and medical interest, before we can learn their secrets, or, in some cases, before we know they exist.
The book tries to answer that why we need to conserve life and nature. To illustrate this point the author gives an example of a gastric brooding frog species Rheobatrachus which can give us the treatment of Peptic Ulcer which affects millions of people in the world. But as the species have become extinct, the possible cure has also died.
Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, the key authors of the book based at the Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School said, “But these studies could not be continued because both species of Rheobatrachus became extinct, and the valuable medical secrets they held are now gone forever.”
The book has attempt to explore seven threatened groups of organisms valuable to medicine, including amphibians, bears, cone snails, sharks, nonhuman primates, gymnosperms, and horseshoe crabs that underscore what may be lost to human health when species go extinct.
The loss of this rich fauna will also be a loss of promising new avenues of medical research and new treatments, pharmaceuticals and diagnostic tests.
Amphibians are source of Pumiliotoxins, which can be useful in medicines that strengthen the contractions of the heart and thus prove useful in treating heart disease, alkaloids present in some species can be used to prepare pain killers, Bradykinins and maximakinins, made in the skin glands of some species of frog can dilate the smooth muscle of blood vessels in mammals and therefore offer promising avenues for treating high blood pressure; glue produced by frog can act as adhesives for repairing cartilage and other tissue tears in humans.
Many species of newts and salamanders can re-grow tissues such as heart muscle; nerve tissue in the spinal cord and even whole organs. So they are vital models for understanding how we might someday harness our own dormant regenerative potential.
Some frogs, can survive long periods of freezing without suffering cell damage-understanding how these frogs do this may yield key insights into how we might better preserve scarce organs needed for transplant.
Bears are on the verge of extinction as they are killed for body parts such as gall bladders, which can command high prices in black markets in places like China, Japan and Thailand. The ursodeoxycholic acid, found in gall bladder of bears can be used as medicine. The substance is used to prevent the build up of bile during pregnancy; dissolve certain kinds of gallstones; and prolong the life of patients with a specific kind of liver disease, known as primary biliary cirrhosis, giving them more time to find a liver transplant. While it can also give us clue to understand and treat various disease related to osteoporosis and renal failure.
Gymnosperms including pines and spruces which are important for pharmaceuticals, including decongestants and the anti-cancer drug taxol, have already been isolated from gymnosperms. The researchers believe many more are yet to be discovered and may be lost if species of Gymnosperms become extinct.
Substances from Gymnosperm, the Ginkgo tree may reduce the production of receptors in the human nervous system linked with memory loss. Thus they may play a role in countering Alzheimer's disease. They may also help in the treatment of epilepsy and depression.
Cone Snails are also among the endangered species, the peptide found in cone snail are used in medicines while one compound, known as ziconotide, is thought to be 1000 times more potent than morphine and has been shown in clinical trials to provide significant pain relief for advanced cancer and AIDS patients. Another cone snail compound has been shown in animal models to protect brain cells from death during times of inadequate blood flow. It could prove a breakthrough therapy for people suffering head injuries and strokes and may even contribute to therapy for patients with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
Many of the Sharks species are now threatened, with some species, such as the Scalloped Hammerhead, White Shark and Thresher Shark, falling in numbers by as much as 75 percent over the past 15 years. Squalamine, a substance isolated from sharks such as dogfish, especially abundant in their livers, may lead to a new generation of antibiotics as well as treatments against fungal and protozoan infections. Studies are also being undertaken with squalamine compounds as possible antitumor and appetite-suppressant substances.
Trials are now also underway to see if squalamine can treat age-related macular degeneration which can lead to severe vision loss. The shark substance may halt the growth of new blood cells in the retina, which is linked to a loss of retinal function and blindness in these patients. Also the salt glands of some sharks are also being studied to gain insight into how the human kidney functions and how chloride ions are transported across membranes, which may shed light on two diseases-cystic fibrosis and polycystic kidney disease.
Horseshoe Crabs, there are four species of horseshoe crabs, with each organism possessing four eyes and six other light-detecting organs as well as blood that turns cobalt blue when exposed to the air. Several peptides have been isolated from its blood that can kill wide range of bacteria. Other cells in the blood of horseshoe crabs can detect the presence of key bacteria in the spinal fluid of people suspected of having cerebral meningitis. The test is so sensitive it can detect at levels of 1 picogram per millilitre of solution- roughly the equivalent of finding one grain of sugar in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Experts, including the authors, emphasize that the book's conclusions should not be construed as a license to harvest wildlife in a way that puts further pressure on already threatened, vulnerable and endangered species.
Instead they should be a spur for even greater conservation and improved management of species and the ecosystems they inhabit.
Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - Press Release, Wednesday April 23, 2008 http://www.unep.org/newscentre/default.asp?ct=pr
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