In South America, the safrole-rich chemotype of Brazilian sassafras tree Ocoteapretiosa (Nees) Mez. has been over-exploited as a safrole-source (there is also amethyl eugenol chemotype). As early as 1966 Mors and Rizzini (Mors & Rizzine1966) noted that O. pretosia was becoming scarce in Santa Catarina due touncontrolled exploitation and the natural slow growth of the tree (the tree is listedas Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List 200. And so Brazil went from being a majorsupplier of sassafras oil in the ‘sixties, to being a minor supplier in the nineties.Vietnam took over the role of being the major supplier, felling the treeCinnamomum parthenoxylon (Jack) Meisn. to distill the roots to producehundreds of tons of sassafras oil Vietnamese annually. Cropwatch (2007)declared the tree as now being critically endangered in Northern & CentralVietnam, and the IUCN Red List 2008 also declares the tree as criticallyendangered (Vietnam). Other geographic sources of safrole include Yunnan,China, where C. parthenoxylon, Sassafras tzumu & fractions of C. camphora areutilized for domestic piperonyl butoxide & heliotropin manufacture; however toprotect natural resources, the Chinese authorities moved against safroleproduction from C. parthenoxylon trees in 2007.In S.W. Cambodia, sassafras trees (‘Mreah Prew Phnom’) Cinnamomumparthenoxylon are especially found amongst the 2 million ha. of forest within theCardamom mountains. On-going investigations of illegal oil-producing activitywere started in 2004 by the Flora & Fauna International Group. In a recent move,made together with help from the Ministry of the Environment, illegal distillerieswere discovered within the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, run byVietnamese syndicates, producing sassafras oil from the shredded roots & trunkof the Mreah Prew Phnom trees
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3 Rangers from the Phnom Sankos Wildlife Sanctuary prepare to dismantle illicit sassafras oil still.Credit D. Bradfield – FFI. Subsequent action by the Royal Cambodian Armed forces dismantled 2 factoriesand led to 2 arrests. Tim Wood, FFI Field Co-ordinator at the Phnom SamkosSanctuary is quoted as expressing grave concern that the harvesting of thesetrees is destroying the fragile eco-system habitats within the sanctuary, The FFIpress release describes the pollution of streams used for cooling water for thedistillation, and mentions the abstraction of fuel wood to drive the distillationprocess. Local peoples fear that this rate of abstraction could push the forest &Mreah Prew Phnom trees to the brink of extinction within 5 years. As a mark oftheir success, the 25th Feb 2009 FFI press release also mentions the fact that inJune 2008, 33 tons of illicitly produced sassafras oil was destroyed, and the 2009FFI raids reported above have to be put in context – since previously in 2006there were some 75 operating stills in the Western Cardamom Mountains. Nowhowever, the FFI are apparently facing funding problems and need economichelp to continue their work. References.Chen C.-L., Chi C.-W., Chang K.-W., & Liu T.-Y. (1999) "Safrole-like DNAadducts in oral tissue from oral cancer patients with a betel quid chewing history."Carcinogenesis 20(12), 2331 - 2334Daimon H., Sawada S, Asakura S. & Sagami F. (199 "In vivo genotoxicity andDNA adduct levels in the liver of rats treated with safrole." Carcinogenesis 19,141-146.