While the Neem tree has been used intensely for centuries wherever it grows, Western interest did not register until the 1920's. Real interest was peaked in 1959 when a German entomologist, Heinrich Schmutterer, noticed that Neem trees were not consumed by locusts during a plague in the Sudan; characteristically, all other vegetation was stripped to the ground. After Schmutterer's report, research on the Neem tree and its uses became a little industry of its own.

    Neem is now gaining acceptance in the West. Neem extracts have been found to be extremely effective against more than 200 arthropod species including, but not limited to, the Mediterranean fruit fly, house flies, fleas, head lice, the Gypsy moth, the Colorado potato beetle, the boll weevil, and cockroaches. This list is a veritable Who's Who of super-resistant insects. As the American National Research Council (NRC) points out, Neem has a complex chemical makeup, more than twenty compounds identified to date, which makes developed resistance unlikely. This smacks of 20/20 hindsight since no problem insects in the Orient, where the Neem tree has grown for thousands of years, are known to have developed resistance to it. Neem accomplishes this without committing "ecocide." Mr. Stix, a writer with the Scientific American points out that birds and bats regularly eat the Neem fruits with no ill effects. They must see the dead insects as a wonderful windfall! He adds that Neem leaves are routinely added to grain stores in India to keep weevils out, with no effect to the grain or the people who eat it.

    Medical benefits are vastly claimed and there is ongoing research into its benefits. Neem paste is applied to the skins of victims of chicken pox (stops the itching among other benefits) and warts. Several reports document Neem's effect on oral bacteria.

    Quietly balancing this very conservative approach is the legendary guru of miracle plants, Noel D. Vietmeyer. Dr. Vietmeyer is a program officer with, and spent 20 years on the Board of Science and Technology for International Development for the NRC. He has "shepherded" the debuts of such plant giants as the jojoba, and amaranth. In the foreword to the NRC's Neem report he insists: "I've never come across a plant with the potential the Neem has." Enough said.