Today I read an article about how the Brazilian rainforest is being destroyed at a rate about twice as fast as originally thought. Reading this news makes me fearful for the future of humanity on this planet.

This news is extremely timely as my nephew, Cole, was just diagnosed with leukemia. What does that have to do with Brazil’s rainforest? Cole had his first chemotherapy session last week and it eliminated 100% of the cancerous cells in his body and only 5% of the cancer-causing cells remain. In one single treatment, he was just about cured. What is this amazing drug that he took? It is called Vincristine and it comes from (drumroll)… The rainforest! Periwinkle trees to be exact.

Vincristine also successfully treats: Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, Wilms’ tumor, and Kaposi’s sarcoma related to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Turns out that some of the most powerful cancer treatments come from plants. Have a look here for lots of great examples. Why is this significant? It is estimated that two-thirds of all the world’s plant species reside in rainforests (the most bio-diverse ecology on the planet). This is especially significant considering that we haven’t even classified and examined 10% of them (and we’re just about done with all the non-rainforest plants).

Interesting fact about the rainforest: 20% of the earth’s atmospheric oxygen comes from rainforests.