Pine Tree Medicine

This is the kind of stuff that amazes me, and I really need to start reading about it and asking about it more often. Nature has everything we need. We just need to respect it’s power and work WITH it, instead of against it.

Researchers Say Key Ingredient In Tamiflu May Be Extracted From Pine Tree Needles.

The AP (11/7, Canfield) reported that University of Maine at Orono researchers say “they’ve found a new and relatively easy way to extract shikimic acid — a key ingredient in the drug Tamiflu [oseltamivir] — from pine tree needles.” If the “research is successful, pine trees could serve as another source of shikimic acid to manufacture Tamiflu while also providing Maine’s forest products industry a new source of revenue. The research has been funded from a variety of sources, including the Maine Technology Institute, the US Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation and the university’s chemistry department.”