Plant-based medicines

The risk of viral contamination in plant-based medicinal products, and requirements for strategies to ensure that the product is consistently free of contaminating viruses, is discussed in detail in the EMEA document, while it is not addressed by the FDA. In addition to contamination by insect, bird and animal excreta or carcases, organic fertilizer, production personnel and equipment, the EMEA document lists plant virus infection as a source of contamination and claims that "... freedom from contamination with all types of viruses, irrespective of natural tropism, should be demonstrated. ... 

From ancient to modem history, traditional plant-based medicines have played an important role in health care. Traditional medicine has maintained its popularity in developing coimtries and has been becoming fashionable in industrialized coimtries as well. The Lycopodium genus (Lycopodiaceae) in Turkey is represented by five species, namely L. alpinum L., L. annotinum L., L. clavatum L., L. complanatum ssp. chamaecyparissus (A. Br.) Doll, and L. selago L. [1],... 

Leaman DJ, Conservation, trade, sustainabifity and exploitation of medicinal plant species, in SaxenaPK, (ed.), Development of Plant-Based Medicines Conservation, Efficacy and Safety, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 1—15, 2001. 

So the question should now be asked is there a future in the past The answer lies in two areas. The first is in the general context of today s trend. There is still an interest in traditional medicines in the Highlands by doctors and pharmacists as evidenced by the existence of the Scottish Society of Historical Medicine. There is also the impact of plant based medicines and self medication in Eastern Europe and Germany, which continues the Celtic tradition of preventative medicine. In addition, there is the role of Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines and traditions from the rain forests of South America. All of this is fuelled by the interest of consumers in self administered, health and body care using plant based materials. 

With greater consumer (especially Western) acceptance of complementary and alternative medicine, more people than ever before are being exposed to a vast array of herbal and other plant-based medicinal products. Although toxicologists have always recognized that natural does not necessarily equate with safe , not much has been done to assess the hazards of herbal supplements and their interactions with other chemicals. This is beginning to change. 

There are three main therapies which rely on plant-based medicines, namely Aromatherapy, Homoeopathy and Herbalism. All three, because they are plant based, exemplify the green, natural image of alternative/ complementary medicine which has helped in making these techniques so popular and so acceptable. Equally the holistic approach of practitioners of these therapies, which embraces the whole person rather than seeing them as a set of symptoms or receptor-sites, has struck a sympathetic chord with patients disenchanted with the impersonal nature of high-tech modern medicine. Allied to this is a sometimes naive view that natural medicines are somehow free from the toxicities and side-effects of synthetic drugs. Chapter VIII shows just how erroneous such a view can be. 

Debnath M, Malik CP, Bisen PS. Micropropagation a tool fra- the production of high quaUty plant-based medicines. Curr Pharm Biotecimol 2006 7(l) 33-49. 

Immunomodulating polysaccharides are not confined to the fungal kingdom—they are also present in many plant-based medicines. While their significance in the immune-enhancing properties of Echinacea species is controversial, they have been shown to play significant roles in the activity of numerous herbs used in traditional Chinese (TCM) and Japanese (Kampo) medicines, as Table 9.1 demonstrates. 

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