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6.9 Million New Cures?

Updated on August 24, 2011

Undiscovered Species

Population

A new scientific study estimates that there are 8.8 million species on the Earth. Of this number 7.8 million are believed to be animal, 611,000 Fungi and 300,000 plants. Up to this time, only 1.9 million species have been found.

If you think we should be exploring the oceans more, you may be surprised to know that of this number 6.5 million are believed to exist on land. Some may even be in your back yard.

Boris Worm, a Biology Professor at Canada’s Dalhousie University and a co-author of the study said “we are really fairly ignorant of the complexity and colorfulness of this amazing planet”.

Pulitzer Prize winner and Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, who was not involved in the study, said “There are potential benefits from these undiscovered species, which need to be found before they disappear from this planet”.

New Medicines Needed

Health

Today, there are hundreds if not thousands of medications or cures available to us. Most of these have come from either animals or plants.

When you consider that we only know one quarter of the life that is on this planet, think how many other cures that there could be, just waiting for us to find.

Perhaps there is one for cancer or for AIDS, who knows?

Currently, species are becoming extinct at a faster rate than we are finding new ones. This means that a potential life saving drug, could disappear tomorrow.

We owe it to our grandchildren, to encourage our Governments to spend more on looking for and finding more new species, thereby improving the biologists chances of finding more cures.

I know you are going to say “What! More expenses, we are already broke”

This maybe true but we need to put things into perspective and prioritize.

For example: The bailout of the Banks in 2009 cost more than the total budget for the 50 years of NASA’s existence.

I believe that any illness caught on this planet, has a cure somewhere on the planet. It is just a case of finding it before its existence slips into oblivion and is lost forever.

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