We make the case for plants by listing their economic and medical benefits to humans, but then what happens? September’s Zoo Botanical News articles look at economic uses of plants and the consequences.

Major pharmaceutical companies have returned to the plant kingdom for new ideas. Pfizer has helped fund a new lab at the New York Botanical Garden to investigate plant genetics with promising results, as told in this month’s first story. In another story, Chanel cosmetics searches the globe for rare plants with potential.

The next story looks at international corporations who profit from plants and how the source countries lose out.

Two stories examine the impact on the environment when a “natural remedy” becomes popular…and profitable.

I can’t leave it at that, so the final story looks at whether birds select nest materials for their chemical properties. Do birds self-medicate?

And over a dozen News stories from past months remain active on the page. Please visit www.zooplantman.com  News page.

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