Title : Safety of traditional medicine with special reference to herbal medicine
Abstract:
Over the recent years, the interest in Traditional Medicinal Products has grown significantly globally. This is not only due to the general trend towards natural products, but also to more available evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of herbal medicinal products. With the increasing use of herbal medicines, the future worldwide labeling practice for herbal products should adequately address quality aspects. Unfortunately quite a number of these products are frequently adulterated with cheap, less potent and spurious plant materials. Standardization comprises all measures leading to a reproducible quality, without the addition of foreign substances (excipients, isolated active principle(s), etc.). The present talk incorporates study of the plants from its plantation to finished product, which is a dire need today for all concerned. A detail account of GAP, GFCP. GLP, CGMP and the possible adulterations in the herbal products will be dealt with practical knowledge based on laboratory experiments. In the case of herbal medicinal products (HMP) the adulterated chemicals are obviously not shown in the list of ingredients, hence the severity is many folded as physicians and pharmacists are not aware of those chemicals for any advice causing serious risk to public health safety. Modern instrumentation used for the quality control of herbal medicines will also be discussed.
