Todos tem direito ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado. Everyone has the right to an ecologically balanced environment. In 1988, the Brazilian Constitutional Assembly incorporated this imperative into the Brazilian Constitution as part of a chapter on environmental protection. After hundreds of years of environmental ignorance, our planet's inhabitants have experienced a growth of environmental awareness. One global environmental tragedy garnering substantial recent attention is the depletion of the planet's tropical rain forests. In addition to eternally altering the human environment, rain forest destruction poses a serious threat to both the pharmaceutical industry and individuals in need of medical care. A substantial portion of existing pharmaceuticals are plant-based and animal-based, and the pharmaceutical industry continues to explore additional species for medicinal potential, particularly in tropical regions. As mass deforestation of these areas forces countless species into extinction, specimens yet to be analyzed for their pharmaceutical potential will be eternally lost. As one noted conservationist explained, “Even severe pollution is reversible, but species extinction is irreversible.”