Aspirin, quinine, birth control pills, pain killers, cancer chemotherapy agents are synthetic equivalents of old folk medicines. It's not just that shamans know plant medicines. Shamanistic cultures have evolved harmonious systems of living with their biological environments. He has extensive experience in the jungles and forests of ten different tropical countries. He and Shaman's Dr. Steven King work with indigenous leaders, scientists and physicians in host countries, non-governmental organizations, and local governments.
Shaman sends physician-botanist teams to live and work with shamans.
By presenting cases to traditional healers, the Western indigenous healers discuss diseases with their indigenous counterparts, who point out plant remedies to treat each ailment. The medicinal plants collected this way are shipped to Shaman 's well-equipped laboratory in South San Francisco. Shaman chemists, pharmacologists, and botanists test active substances, and selected the best prospects for further screening. One compound for treating herpes and another for treating a childood respiratory disease are now in Phase II clinical trials. Both compounds, first discovered by native healers, are derived from a South American tree that Shaman and its indigenous partners are cultivating in the rain forest.