By ROGER HAMILTON

The shamans realized that mere physical isolation was not enough to shield their communities from outside pressures. Like traditional groups everywhere, their communities have become intertwined with people and events across the globe.

So the 42 taitas, as shamans are called here, decided they had to act. At the close of their week-long meeting they created a union of traditional healers and signed a joint declaration that would form the basis for an appeal that they would take to the road. On their itinerary was the IDB’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, which they visited in October accompanied by Mark Plotkin, noted ethnobotanist and president of the nongovernmental Amazon Conservation Team, and Dr. Germán Zuluaga, that group’s Colombian director.

High on their list of problems is what to do about nonindigenous charlatans who pose as taitas and sell yagé , a hallucinogenic plant used as a central part of sacred ceremonies. When yagé is administered outside of a controlled cultural setting it can produce many negative side effects, giving it a bad reputation. In fact, some authorities are campaigning to declare the plant a narcotic and ban its use.

The taitas demand that they be allowed to continue using yagé as part of their religious and healing practices. In addition, they are calling on the government to go one step further and give official recognition to the health services that taitas provide to their peoples.

Another problem is bioprospecting by well-funded scientists, entrepreneurs and anthropologists, who remove medicinal plants from the forest with the intent of deriving marketable substances from them. Patenting these genetic resources violates what the taitas consider their intellectual property rights. They are opposed to such activities unless there are contracts in place that guarantee the Indians’ rights.

A third threat is the loss of traditional Indian territorial lands and sacred sites. “If the forests disappear, so will medicine and life,” states the taita declaration.

Plotkin, who has long warned that the disappearance of shamans represents an irreplaceable loss of botanical and other knowledge, concedes that these traditional healers don’t have all the answers. But western medicine can learn much from them, according to Plotkin. “You don’t have to be a romantic or a flower child to reach this conclusion,” he said. Moreover, technological advances make Mother Nature an even more promising potential source of new drugs because new ways are being developed to find useful products, analyze them and manipulate molecules, he added.

Beyond cultural and health benefits, support for shamans offers economic benefits, according to Anne Deruyttere, chief of the IDB’s Indigenous Peoples Unit. In some cases traditional medicine can be more cost-effective than western medicine, and several Latin American countries have shown an interest in using their services as part of their national health services.

Moreover, she said, in a time of rapid and often wrenching change, people who have a clear cultural identity based on traditional practices and ways of life are better able to adjust.

Meeting of cultures. While many nonindi-genous people reject traditional medicine, still others become converts. Amazon Conservation Team’s Zuluaga recalled his own experience on a trip to the Amazon, shortly after graduating from medical school. He was so impressed by the healing powers of the taitas that he declared that he would wear feathers himself. The taitas advised him to stick with western attire.

But while cultural differences must remain, Zuluaga urged a rapprochement between traditional and western medicine based on scientific research and legal support. Taitas could be incorporated into modern health care systems, he said, and the use of yagé and other medicinal plants could be regulated. Protected areas could be co-managed with the state.

Zuluaga also urged measures to stem incursions into Indian lands by small farmers who clear the forest and plant coca, and the recovery of sacred sites such as the Yurayaco Rock, an enormous black monolith. He said economic support should be provided for indigenous reserves and sustainable production programs.

Traditional medicine should be brought out of the forest and into the outside world, said Zuluaga. Discussions are underway to construct two hospitals, complete with botanical gardens, where traditional medicine will be taught to nonindigenous people and young Indians who will serve as apprentices as they learn botanical and healing skills.

For more information on the shamans’ declaration and the Amazon Conservation Team, go to www.ethnobotany.org.htm.

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