Latest news from The Star (27 April 2006) :

{422 new plant species had been discovered in Borneo - shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei - in the last 25 years and many others were believed to be there which could have medicinal applications.

A promising anti-cancer substance has been found in a Borneo shrub by researchers for an Australian pharmaceutical firm, while a chemical found in latex produced by a tree appears to be effective against the replication of HIV, the report said.

In the bark of another species of tree, the researchers discovered a previously unknown substance which in laboratory tests appeared to kill the human malaria parasite, it added.

But the rapid destruction of trees, much of it by illegal logging to meet growing world demand for timber, could wreck any chance of using these discoveries in the fight against disease, the WWF declared.}

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