Brazilian explorers search 'medicine factory' to save lives and rainforest
Quest for cancer cure may also protect rainforest by providing alternatives for those who once earned money by destroying itThe boat ploughs north along this vast, rust-tinted river. Ahead, a white haze of torrential rain and a task as immense as the Amazon rainforest itself: discovering a new treatment for cancer somewhere in the depths of the greatest tropical rainforest on earth.Onboard three men prepare themselves for their mission into the jungle: Drauzio Varella, a gangly 65-year-old oncologist, broadcaster and best-selling author who is also Brazil's most famous doctor; Mateus Paciencia, 33, a fresh-faced botanist from São Paulo; and Osmar Ferreira Barbosa, 45, a former chainsaw operator turned mateiro or forest guide, armed with a machete and a life-time's knowledge of the rainforest."From an amoeba to an elephant… every living thing is a factory of substances, and plants aren't different," enthused Paciencia, as the boat edged ever closer to his...
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