68 JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE AWARD LECTURE SPONSORED BY COSMETICS ANO TOILETRIES© Michael Balick, Ph.D. The New York Botanical Garden Ethnobotanists study one of the most fundamental relationships on earth--the relationship between plants and people. The plant world is the one of the foundations that society is built upon, with ancient peoples recognizing the importance of plants for food, fuel, medicine, construction, fiber and to protect them from their harsh environment. At first, the wilderness was the source of useful plants ultimately, gatherers became cultivators, and domesticated the plants that were most appropriate to their needs. Today, ethnobotany is a discipline with renewed interest, as it is involved with the search for new foods and medicines, in learning how to manage the earth's resources sustainably, in conservation of pristine ecosystems, and in other issues of great human concern. Some ethnobotanists work in tropical regions, where habitat destruction is proceeding at a frightening pace. It is in these regions that some of the world's greatest diversity is found, including plants, animals and other biological organisms that are as yet undiscovered. Many indigenous cultures inhabit these tropical regions and still utilize plant resources in the ancient ways of their ancestors. Ethnobotanists find work with such cultures particularly rewarding, as indigenous peoples often have a much broader understanding of how to use the resources around them in their everyday lives, then, say, a person living in a city in the United States or Europe. In our own culture, knowledge is often compartmentalized, and specialties abound, while in traditional cultures, many people are aware of the uses of the materials--plant and animal-- in their environment. Tragically, cultures are being destroyed at a faster rate than the wilderness areas that they inhabit. Globalization has brought television, media, industry, fast foods, and other components of Western society to the most remote parts of the earth. While there have been some benefits to this, the phenomenon has also meant that traditional peoples are embracing Western culture and values, and making them their own. As a result, many groups are forgetting their own languages, and it is estimated that about half of all languages and the cultures that speak them will be extinct in the next 50-100 years. As a recent cover story of Time Magazine pointed out, "when native cultures disappear, so does a trove of medical and scientific wisdom." I have been privileged to live amongst many traditional cultures in my travels, residence and study in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Most of my studies have involved learning about traditional healing systems, and the preparation of plants used as foods. What has always struck me however, is the success that these people have in coexisting with the stresses in their environment--wind, sun, insects, and other similar hazards. Why, when I meet a person in their 90' s, do they seem to look, and have a level of activity, much younger? While diet and exercise certainly play a large part, I have also observed that traditional peoples use many plant products to protect their hair, face and body.

2001 ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING 69 There are many ingredients found in nature and utilized by traditional peoples that could have application to the cosmetics industry. Only a relative handful of the 265,000 species of higher plants (those which bear flowers or cones) are used commercially in the cosmetics industry. Yet indigenous peoples have traditionally used much more of the plant world for cosmetics-related purposes--to adorn their bodies, color their hair, moisturize and protect their skin, repel insects, heal skin irritations, wash and perfume themselves and for many other purposes. The cosmetics industry has recognized this, as have consumers, and, at present, the "green" segment of the industry is growing at a faster pace than most other sectors. With this growth comes responsibilities to the consumer, to the environment, and to the peoples and countries who have discovered or who have stewardship over these resources. Maria Raza, on the island of Pohnpei, making perfumed coconut oil with the petals of Cananga odorata, as her ancestors have always done. In ancient times this was an oil used to clean and anoint royalty today, it is used by many residents of the island to moisturize and heal the skin. Once, nearly two dozen plants were known to be used to make this oil at present, local people only recall a single species.