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Further information: Cinchona

The bark of Cinchona officinalis Photograph by: H. Zell

The initiation of the Cinchona Mission by the American government during World War II was a result of the lack of quinine supply by the Javanese colony. Quinine was the pharmacologic agents for treating malaria which had adversely affected its soldiers involved in the warfare. This was after the Japanese conquered Java and made cinchona and its alkaloids to be inaccessible to the United States and other countries. The botanical explorations encompassed of three broader WikiProjects regarding the history of the military during World War II, environment, and medicine.The history of the military during Second World War II provided insight on how armies from northern kingdoms, states, empires and metropolis conquered and colonized Africa, Asia, and South America using the expedition. Additionally, there are explanations for the current international relations and evolution of countries over time. The program enabled the extraction and processing of cinchona barks for its medicinal alkaloids, training of scientists, collection of seeds and plants for medicinal research, and field notes. Furthermore, the Cinchona Mission increased the productivity of Latin America environment through the exploitation of minerals, livestock keeping, and growth of plants like rubber. Besides, the Americans mechanized agriculture through the purchase of machines, technical skills and incentives.

Background to the Cinchona Mission

Malaria is an old world disease which the Europeans introduced into the Americans shortly after 1942. Thus, its detrimental health outcomes to the American armed forces at World WarII culminated into the American quest of cinchona barks from the Andean countries. Moreover, the capture of Java, a Dutch colony, by the Japanese during World War II led to the shortage of the quinine and cinchona alkaloids supplies. During this period, Java was the sole global supplier of about 95% quinine medications. In turn, the American government initiated the Cinchona Mission by sending its chemists, botanists, agronomists, and foresters to the Latin American countries where the cinchona plant was native.

Chemistry of Cinchona

The barks of the various species of cinchona trees have various concentrations of alkaloids with medicinal importance . The alkaloids act as the pharmacological agents against malaria by altering with the metabolism of heme of the malaria parasites. For instance, the drugs kill the Plasmodium parasites by interfering with the hemozoin biocrystallization process. Subsequently, pathway inhibition leads to the accumulation of cytotoxic heme oxidative stress, and eventually death of the parasite. The examples of the alkaloids include quinine, cinchonine, and totaquine.

Moreover, quinidine and cinchonine are the stereoisomers of quinine and cinchonine, respectively, while totaquine is the combination of all the four primary alkaloids. Likewise, cinchona alkaloids have other clinical properties; quinidine is the drug of treating short QT syndrome and class I cardiac arrhythmias like the arrhythmias of the ventricles in individuals with the Brugada Syndrome . Quinine can also treat arthritis, babesiosis, and lupus disease.

World War II and the Race for the Raw Materials

The Japanese victory of conquering Java made it impossible for the government of the United States of America to access the plantations of cinchona trees which supplied quinine. Thus, the key reason for initiating the Cinchona Mission was to explore other regions within the Latin American countries. Moreover, they were to identify specific species of cinchona containing quinine and harvest the barks for the production and processing of the alkaloids. It was also during the botanical expedition that the Americans discovered newer species of cinchona with higher potential for quinine production. Subsequently, the discovery made the American government create good international relations with the Andean countries . For instance, it initiated enabling an environment in the Latin America nations which promoted maximum exploitation of the cinchona barks by devising ways of restricting and monopolizing the market of cinchona barks and other products. For example, Andean products which met the needs of the American Defence Forces were given a priority. In return, Latin Americans were to import newspapers, movies, clothes, and music only from the United States of America.

The American government promoted the productivity of other sectors, like mining and agricultural production in countries like Haiti, Nicaragua, and Peru. There were also rewards to farmers who reduced their lands under cotton by one percent. Additionally, the Americans provided economic aids in the form of loans, purchase of machinery equipment, and non-refundable aids for the expansion of cinchona plantations. Consequently, the government created institutions for monitoring and controlling the trade, development projects, and the leasing or lending of armories. These institutions were headed by American staff and managed by companies like the Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation . Likewise, the operations of Cinchona barks and its alkaloid were majorly run by the Defence Supplies Corporations of America which made rules and granted the permission of accessing products. Thus, the Americans enjoyed many privileges and concessions during World War II as never before.

Exploration of Cinchona in South America

The main aim of the cinchona program was to create initiatives to impede the dominance of Dutch like the Kina Bureau in the market. Likewise, the exploration involved a more significant number of forest experts, agronomists, chemists, and agronomists to increase the production of cinchona barks. Additionally, the Cinchona Mission enabled America's administration to devise plans of acquiring control of regions with cinchona abundance through different means such as the search of American importers with an in-depth understanding of the Latin America's market to purchase barks under the Defence Supplies Corporation. The importers would then sign agreements concerning the purchase of cinchona, cultivation, production, processing, and the establishment of plantations and factories of cinchona . The Andean producers of cinchona were also encouraged to engage in the market, thus preventing the products from reaching the Dutch. Moreover, there was the establishment of agricultural research organizations under the leadership of personnel from the United States of America. Furthermore, America's government employed its younger scientists to explore the forests of Andes. In the Western Andes, for example, a variety of Cinchona species were found at high attitudes while in the Eastern Andes, the same species were discovered in low attitudes .

Extraction of Cinchona

The leading players of the extraction and harvesting of cinchona were Indians called cascarillas. They identified the right species of cinchona by observing the physical features like the tree trunk. Subsequently, the tree was cut, the barks peeled using knives and machetes and dried . The dried barks were then ferried to designated sites in the forests by the harvesters and animals like donkeys. Additionally, trucks and trains could be used to transport the barks to ports like Barranquilla for shipment to the United States of America. The sale of cinchona barks was facilitated by the local businessmen and agents who were responsible for the whole extraction process of cinchona. America's cinchona barks imports from Latin America were thirty million pounds between 1941 and 1945. This translated to seven hundred thousand ounces of cinchona alkaloids after processing..

Consequences of the Cinchona Mission

The cinchona program made the United States of America to gain more power and fame globally during the Second World War. The cinchona mission had different impacts both to nationals from America and Latin America. The country implemented diverse initiatives for the exploration and the maximum exploitation of the cinchona barks, and other botanical resources. As a result, various institutions like research institutes, universities, and federal centers were established to aid in the development and consolidation of the United States-Latin America international business ties . Likewise, the agreements made Andean countries to be more dependent on the American government for loans, technical aid, and a market for cinchona and its alkaloids. The factors that attributed to the termination of the expedition included the availability of synthetic anti-malarial products, the surplus stock of cinchona barks in the United States, and the attack of Moreover, the South American countries were recovering cinchona plantation, and there were orders for the end of the project after the Pacific war.