Elemental Profiling: Its Role and Regulations

The commercial significance of medicinal plants was known since millennia but its popularity has grown remarkably in terms of herbal drugs, herbal cosmetics and nutraceuticals during the last few decades. The primary reason being increased interest of developed countries in herbal medicines for safer and natural health care system. This has intensified research on medicinal plants of developing and third world countries for safer and effective drugs for chronic diseases. In fact, more than 60% of the new anti-cancer drugs approved since 1983 were derived from plants. Hence, countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America see greater scope in earning valuable foreign exchange through export of their plant wealth to the western countries. It has been observed, since the last two decades, the interest in the developed countries for complementary and alternative medicines has increased by 60%. In the US, consumer use of herbal products rose to about 50% in 2004 from 5% in 1991. According to the WHO estimate, the world market for herbal medicines and herbal products is worth US$ 62 billion and would hit US$ 5 trillion by 2050. The market is growing @7% per annum. US is the major market for essential oils and herbal tea. Leading markets for herbal products in Europe are Germany, France, UK and Italy with Germany having the largest herbal extraction industry in Europe. Since many of the traditional herbs do not conform to the perceptions and norms of the western countries as they correspond to a different system (allopathy) and concept, the mismatch may create problem. The latest impact of these factors is the ban imposed by the Canadian government on 'unapproved' Ayurvedic drugs from India, on the plea of hazardous heavy metal concentration in them. The agency banned products manufactured by herbal giants like Dabur, Zandu, Himalaya and Hamdard, although some of these products (like Dabur's 'Shilajit' which is actually a natural rock extract) are claimed by their manufacturers to be free from metals. The manufacturers are of the view that they would take measures like policy advocacy on this issue. However, the ban is not applicable for those Ayurvedic products which have been authorized for sale in Canada. To prevent recurrence of similar types of incidents, the WHO has issued certain guidelines to promote traditional medicines in its traditional medicine strategy (2004-05). The organization has advocated for regulations and other arrangements (like public awareness program) so as to ensure safe utilization of the traditional medicines. If the advice is implemented in a