Safety of herbal medicines in children.

EFFICACY It is important that health professionals adopt a non-judgemental approach with regard to parents who use CAM for their children. Many herbal medicines may be effective as we know that many plant derived chemicals are the basis of conventional drug therapies. Parents will often use a herbal medicine for their children on the basis that it is more ‘‘natural’’ and safer. One third of parents will use CAM because they feel that they are safer than conventional medicines!