WHO Herbal Medicine Guidelines Key On Quality Assurance
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
New World Health Organization guidelines for herbal medicines provide a strategy for the formulation of national and regional good agricultural and collection practices
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New World Health Organization guidelines for herbal medicines provide a strategy for the formulation of national and regional good agricultural and collection practices. The Guidelines on Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for Medicinal Plants were introduced by the UN health agency Feb. 10 as part of an initiative to maintain worldwide quality in herbal medicines. According to WHO, the medicinal plant market is estimated at $60 bil. and steadily increasing. Herbal medicines are growing in popularity in wealthy countries and continue to see widespread use in developing regions, the agency claims. The products are seeing increased popularity because they are readily available and "could be the natural answer to some ailments," WHO says. WHO is focusing attention on quality assurance because the number of adverse events related to herbal medicines is on the rise. Poor quality of herbal medicines and incorrect identification of specific plants are two major causes for the increase in adverse events, the organization says. "Cultivating, collecting and classifying plants correctly are therefore of the utmost importance for the quality and safety of products," the WHO said in a release. For example, WHO noted the cases of serious cardiac arrhythmia that were reported in the U.S. in 1997 when Digitalis lanata was accidentally substituted for plantain. Subsequent investigations found that Digitalis lanata had been inadvertently shipped to more than 150 manufacturers, distributors and retailers over a two-year period. The agency cited promotion of "sustainable cultivation" as a key reason for issuing the guidelines. WHO alleges that the growing herbal market is placing certain plants at risk of over-harvesting. According to the organization, wild types of the plant ginseng are "reported to be rapidly declining" due to increased demand. Other plants currently on the "at-risk" list include goldenseal, echinacea, black cohosh and kava kava. A copy of the report may be ordered through the WHO 1 website. |