Polynesians

And essentially what we see is a repeat of some of the errors that occurred around kava.

So you will remember that between... 99 and 2001 carver carver that had this huge traditional use in polynesia came over to europe what happened when it came over to europe and and also the united states what happened well two things happened the supply chains fell apart so all the traditional use of of specific cultivars and types um and then they started using aerial plant plants parts of the plant that they weren't using and then they were using specific cultivars that weren't being used traditionally And then they were often extracting them in ways that were completely at odds with the traditional decoction systems that were being used by the Polynesians.

despite all of that looked like hundreds thousands of people were being harmed when you drill into what actually happened there were 26 cases which were reported of hepatotoxicity of liver toxicity and then when you start to evaluate those cases you realize that the vast majority of them were essentially previous drug users, people using concomitant pharmaceutical drugs, people who had already very serious health conditions.

And it comes down to probably a handful of problems, despite the fact that the system had lost its way you know we had had very poor transition between traditional use and western use and this this happens over and over again and that's why why we have this consistent um lack of joined up thinking between taking products from the indian subcontinent the you know asia and china um and taking them into europe because we we don't essentially respect sufficiently that traditional use.

[train revving] Okay, Culture Kids, our magical culture train is revving up its engine, getting ready to whisk us away to meet our friend, Mark, and have an adventure of a lifetime.

But first, let's find out where the Hawaiian Islands actually are, and how the ancient Polynesians ever found them.

Hawaii isn't just one island.

It's a whole archipelago.

Yep.

Hawaii is part of Polynesia, a triangle of islands across a huge part of the Pacific.

Polynesians are the people who live across all those islands, each with their own unique traditions and languages.

But in Hawaii, there are eight major islands.