RESEARCH AND APPLICATION IMPERATIVES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF PHYTOMEDICINES

The market for medicinal plants in the United States soared after the passing of 1994 Dietary Supplements and Health Education Act (DSHEA) that permitted labeling phytomedicines as “dietary supplements” and allowing their sale without the oversight authority of Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Fast rate of growth, however, has created a number of problems from lack of infrastructure to support uninterrupted supply of plants raw materials, quality control of plant ingredients used in herbal medicines, efficacy of herbal medicines, to the misleading advertisements and unsubstantiated benefit claims for the exploitation of consumers.
The solution of problems related to sustainable production of medicinal plants would require coordinated research and application initiatives.
The priority areas for research for this purpose are worldwide inventory of medicinal pants and original knowledge, conservation measures for biodiversity maintenance, breeding for adaptability and active ingredients, tissue culture for rapid plant regeneration, ecotype labeling, suitable cultural practices, organic farming, and post-harvest handling.
The application initiatives needed to put in place reliable supply system for plant raw material are linking of production chains, fair pricing and support system for herb suppliers from developing countries, technical advise to growers on culture, harvesting and post-harvest handling and assistance with transition from traditional to organic farming.

International Symposium on Medicinal and Nutraceutical Plants

H.P. Singh, B.P. Singh , S.K. Gulia

herb production chain, organic herb production, ecotyping, biodiversity, breeding

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.756.2