06/01/05

Traditional Polynesian cosmetics help save rainforests

Samoan healer grinding Mamala bark Copyright: Paul Alan Cox/Patricia Stewart

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Traditional Polynesian cosmetics help save rainforests</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>Shampoos, moisturising creams and other products based on rain forest plants used by indigenous people in Polynesia are helping to conserve tropical forests in Africa, Asia and Latin America.</P><br />
<P>In this article, Michele Lian describes how botanist Paul Alan Cox spent 30 years researching these and other products, with the aim of bringing them to global markets and ensuring that profits are shared with their originators. </P><br />
<P>Since moving to Western Samoa in 1973, Cox has been studying the islanders’ knowledge and use of the plants around them. He hopes that as well as yielding cosmetic products his research will also identify potential cures for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. </P><br />
<P>One product derived from a Samoan tree is showing promise as an HIV/AIDS drug. Thanks to a royalty agreement between scientist and the government of Samoa, if the drug is successful, the people of Samoa will get half of the profits from its sale (see <a  href="/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews&itemid=1645&language=1" target=_self rel="noopener noreferrer">Samoa to profit from indigenous knowledge deal</A>).</P><br />
<P><a  href="http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2005/1/3/features/9465645&sec=features" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full article in <EM>The Star</EM></A></P></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/features/traditional-polynesian-cosmetics-help-save-rainfor/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/features/traditional-polynesian-cosmetics-help-save-rainfor/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

Shampoos, moisturising creams and other products based on rain forest plants used by indigenous people in Polynesia are helping to conserve tropical forests in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

In this article, Michele Lian describes how botanist Paul Alan Cox spent 30 years researching these and other products, with the aim of bringing them to global markets and ensuring that profits are shared with their originators.

Since moving to Western Samoa in 1973, Cox has been studying the islanders’ knowledge and use of the plants around them. He hopes that as well as yielding cosmetic products his research will also identify potential cures for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

One product derived from a Samoan tree is showing promise as an HIV/AIDS drug. Thanks to a royalty agreement between scientist and the government of Samoa, if the drug is successful, the people of Samoa will get half of the profits from its sale (see Samoa to profit from indigenous knowledge deal).

Link to full article in The Star