WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants

WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants

Modern European monographs for quality control of Chinese herbs.

The actual concern about the safety and efficacy of herbal drugs originating from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is based on observations that these medicinal plants may have a high risk potential due to insufficient definitions, problems with identity, purity and falsifications. No uniform legal status for these groups of herbal drugs currently exists in the European Union. For quality con...

EPA Sees the Light on Fluorescent Bulbs

According to a survey of trends in alternative medicine use that was published in the 1 1 November 1998 issue of the Journal ofthe American Medical Association, U.S. consumers were spending as much as $5.1 billion annually on herbal products as of 1997. In addition, about 18% of all prescription drug users reported using herbal remedies or high-dose vitamins along with their prescribed medicati...

Quantification of Heavy Metals and Minerals in Selected Indian Medicinal Plants Using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer

Medicinal plants form the basis of sophisticated traditional medicine system that has been in existence for thousands of years, which continue to provide mankind with new remedies. Herbal plants are consumed worldwide for the treatment of several diseases and such plants are the important source of raw material for pharmaceutical industries. As a micronutrient, heavy metal plays an essential ro...

Application of techniques in collection and harvesting of herbal medicine

Interest in traditional medicine and in particular herbal medicine has increased in both developed and developing countries over the past two decades. Some reported adverse events following the use of certain herbal medicines have been associated with a variety of possible explanations, including the inadvertent use of the wrong plant species, adulteration with undeclared other medicines. The s...