required activity. With the assistance of robotic devices, all the members of a genus may be
readily screened. However, the plant material must be
fully
authenticated by a specialist.
The medicinal traditions of ancient civilisations such as those of China and India have a large
armamentaria of plants in their pharmacopoeias which are used throughout South-East Asia.
A similar situation exists in Africa and South America. Thus, a
very high percentage of the
world’s population relies on medicinal and aromatic plants for their medicine. Western medicine
is also responding. Already in Germany all medical practitioners have to pass an examination in
phytotherapy before being allowed to practise. It is noticeable that throughout Europe and
the USA, medical, pharmacy and health related schools are increasingly offering training in
phytotherapy.
Multinational pharmaceutical companies have become less enamoured of the single compound
magic bullet cure. The high costs of such ventures and the endless competition from ‘me too’
compounds from rival companies often discourage the attempt. Independent phytomedicine
companies have been very strong in Germany. However, by the end of 1995, eleven (almost all)
had been acquired by the multinational pharmaceutical firms, acknowledging the lay public’s
growing demand for phytomedicines in the Western World.
The business of dietary supplements in the Western World has expanded from the health
store to the pharmacy. Alternative medicine includes plant-based products. Appropriate
measures
to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of these either already exist or are being
answered by greater legislative control by such bodies as the Food and Drug Administration of
the USA and the recently created European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products,
based in London.
In the USA, the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act of 1994 recognised the class
of phytotherapeutic agents derived from medicinal and aromatic plants. Furthermore, under
public pressure, the US Congress set up an Office of Alternative Medicine and this office in 1994
assisted the filing of several Investigational New Drug (IND) applications, required for clinical
trials of some Chinese herbal preparations. The significance of these
applications was that each
Chinese preparation involved several plants and yet was handled as a
single
IND. A demonstra-
tion of the contribution of efficacy, of
each
ingredient of
each
plant, was not required. This was
a major step forward towards more sensible regulations in regard to phytomedicines.
My thanks are due to the staffs of Harwood Academic Publishers and Taylor & Francis who
have made this series possible and especially to the volume editors and their chapter contributors
for the authoritative information.
Roland Hardman
xiv
Preface to the series