Standardization of herbal medicine: A dire need today

In spite of recent developments of antibiotics and newer synthetic drugs, a vast majority of people depend on traditional medicines for their primary health care needs and it can safely presumed that a major part of traditional therapy involves the use of plant extracts or their active principle. In the recent years with ever growing commercialization in the field of herbal medicines, there has been an instant demand for quality control of the drugs used in this system. The studies on the identity, purity and quality of the genuine drug will enhance information in checking the adulteration. A set of standards would not doubt be detterent on substitution and adulteration and also an aid for ‘Drug law Enforcement’. This study deals with examination of a herbal medicine starting from its cultivation, morpho-anatomical, pharmacognostic, physicochemical and analytical protocols, foreign organic matter, pesticide residue, radioactive and microbial contamination, chemical assay. Finger printing of the successive extractives using IR, UV, TLC & HPLC techniques, phytochemical screening, quantitative analysis of inorganic constituents. A standardised outline is formulated starting from birth of the plants up to dispensing it to the patients either in crude form or in the form of a finished herbal products.