BRING CLARITY TO HERBAL TECHNOLOGY
Several dictionaries describe herb as "an agricultural plant used for flavouring food or in medicine". It is also defined as a "plant which dies down to the ground after flowering".
But, in practice several agro chemicals are being included in the classification of herbal products, even if they would not fall under the dictionary definition of the term herb.
For example, Neem based pesticide Azadirachtin is often discussed in the Herbal forum, though Neem is a big tree with long life and cannot be described as herb.
A clear definition of herbal product is required at this stage, so as to provide a proper focus and strategy for the development of the industry. Perhaps, the correct approach could be to restrict the term herbal products only to those which have clear and definite medicinal applications. This would automatically ensure that the products with pesticidal or cosmetic applications and those which are food supplements would not be included as herbal product. The agricultural plants with non-medicinal applications can be classified under the term agrochemical which would go a long way in securing the identity for the herbal products.
Today, the herbal industry in India is struggling to find its feet in spite of the all-round euphoria that has developed around it, since the application development efforts are still inadequate and remain without focus. For successful application development efforts, it is necessary to associate the end user sector in an intimate manner. The strategy for developing the application in medicinal sector by establishing the pharmaceutical efficacy of the product, conducting the clinical trials etc are altogether different as compared to some other application sector such as cosmetics or pesticide.
For example, Aloe Vera is marketed as a cosmetic ingredient such as skin moisturizer and hair growth aid. It also has applications as a sports drink, which can be considered as a food supplement. The other important application is in ayurvedic medicines as one of the ingredients. Several producers market the Aloe Vera based product for all the above applications without any particular application oriented specifications or product development work for particular end use. Such confusion have eroded the image of the herbal products to some extent.
Several herbal enthusiasts in the country must have been disappointed about the recent denial of permission for sale of ayurvedic products in Canada on the ground that it contains toxic elements. Similar regulations have been proposed to be adopted in UK and other developed countries. To overcome such objections, ayurvedic practitioners sometimes attempt to sell the herbal based ayurvedic products as food supplements and not as drugs. Objections to this practice are already evident in countries like USA and before long, one can expect some legislations on branding the potential drug products as food supplements.
It is high time that the herbal practitioners firmly classify only the products intended for medicinal application as herbal products and provide it a distinctive status and develop the standards and certification procedures accordingly. The development of herbal products only as medicinal inputs would clearly identify the potential beneficiaries and enable the medical practitioners to recognize the products as such. This would inevitably lead to quicker development in the field and pave the way for providing a scientific and technological explanation and justification for the use of the products in the medicinal sector.
The drugs made out of herbs have to be positioned in the market vis a vis that of the allopathic drug, for the herbal industry to forge ahead. If this were to happen, the herbal drugs should also be subjected to scientific explanations, clinical trials and should be brought under the Pharmacobia and Drugs Act for the purpose of registration.
The Government of India should firmly classify only those products produced from agricultural plants and that are intended for medicinal use. This would provide the necessary status and recognition for the herbal drugs and define its targeted growth strategy in a clear manner.
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