'Sri Lanka yet to realise power of medicinal plants'

by Nilma DOLE

In Sri Lanka, we still don't know the immense benefits of wayside weeds which can be used as Ayurveda medicines in combating some of the deadliest diseases in the world, according to veteran systems ecologist Dr. Ranil Senanayake.

The former Executive Director of Environmental Liasion Centre International and Senior Lecturer at the Melbourne and Monash Universities, Dr. Senanayake has travelled extensively within Brazil's Amazon rainforest and several South American countries to learn more about the benefits of unknown medicinal plants that grow as weeds in Sri Lanka.

"I met with the Asaro Mudmen in Papua New Guinea and many other tribes to understand the benefits of these plants and what ailments they can cure. I also saw many plants in South America which grow wild in Sri Lanka.

"Even though they grow as weeds, all have the potential of turning what was once something of no value to something valuable with information being the key," he said.

According to a World Health Organization report, over 80 percent of the world population relies on plant-based traditional medicine for their primary healthcare needs.Speaking at the launch of his book 'Exotic Medicinal Plants in Sri Lanka and their Uses' together with Neil de Silva of Swarna Dweep, Dr. Senanayake said that he discovered the positive effects of 50 species of local plants. "Sri Lanka was the first and perhaps the only country to give political and administrative status to its traditional healing systems by setting up the Ministry of Indigenous Medicine and Department of Indigenous Medicine so we need to implement a legislative environment where the consumer is free to make a decision to use either Western or Eastern medicine," he said.