cahmri newsletter - issue 6
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CaHMRI Newsletter - Issue 6TRANSCRIPT
Concerning the responsible use of herbal medicinal products
The “greening” of modern medicine has
been supported globally with serious sci-
entific study which is being undertaken to
promote the responsible use of herbal me-
dicinal products (HMPs). Initiatives in
this field include the work of TRAMIL in
the Caribbean region: and TRAMIL is the
acronym for Traditional Medicine In
Lands bordering the Caribbean sea. It is
an applied, non-profit scientific research
programme on the medicinal plants,
which was started in 1984 in the Domini-
can Republic, but which remains far too
sparsely supported financially.
TRAMIL aims “to stimulate action-
oriented research that has the potential to
educate physicians, pharmacologists,
health personnel, and those involved in
primary healthcare programs”.
Over the years, the research team in
TRAMIL has included over two hundred
specialists in the areas of botany, ethno-
botany, chemistry, pharmacology and
medicine, working in cooperation with
social workers. Through their academic
units and professors, over thirty-five insti-
tutions from around the world have been
involved in the TRAMIL program..
Under the leadership of Lionel Robineau
M.D., the research team has been regu-
larly carrying out ethnopharmacological
disease-based field surveys on the tradi-
tional medicinal uses of plants by people
in the Caribbean territories. The main
interest lies in the folk knowledge of the
population at large rather than the knowl-
edge and experiences of the traditional
healers.
The TRAMIL survey method uses a spe-
cial questionnaire, and the focus has been
on non-life threatening ailments in the
region. TRAMIL surveys
have been conducted over
the period 1984 through
2003 at separate times in
the field at the following
locations, Antigua, Barba-
dos, Belize, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Cuba, Domin-
ica, Dominican Republic,
French Guiana, Grenada,
Guadeloupe, Haiti, Hon-
duras, Marie Galante,
Martinique, Mexico, Nica-
ragua, Panama, Puerto
Rico, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Tobago and
Venezuela.
In the TRAMIL surveys, those uses of
plants which are identified by the inter-
viewees as their first resource, and which
account for 20% or more of the reported
uses, for the given health problem are
deemed to be “significant uses”.
Those medicinal uses which are found to
be “significant” are then subjected to sci-
entific laboratory evaluation, and to criti-
cal review of the chemistry and pharma-
cology and toxicology of the particular
plants. However, TRAMIL is not in-
volved in the conduct of clinical trials
with these traditional remedies.
Inside this issue:
September, 2010 Volume 2, Issue:4
C A R I B B E A N H E R B A L M E D I C I N E R E S E A R C H I N S T I T U T E
CaHMRI News
CONCERNING THE RESPON-
SIBLE USE OF HERBAL ME-
DICINAL PRODUCTS
1
BOTANICAL RESEARCH CENTERS OF THE NIH
3
WHAT DO HERBAL PHARMA-
COPOEIAS DO?
4
Lantana camara - wild sage
curcas, Piper auritum and Pouteria
sapota.
This publication is intended to guide the
reader or consumer to use traditional
herbal remedies in a responsible way,
since self-medication has persisted
throughout the years. It declares that:
“Under no circumstances is this informa-
tion intended to be used as a basis for con-
ducting medical diagnoses, clinical or sur-
gical procedures or (medical) lab. tests.”
Further information might be obtained
from the review of this e-book, as reported
on pages 73 and 74 by D.D. Soejarto
Ph.D., in the May-July 2010 issue of vol-
ume 86 of HerbalGram (The Journal of
the American Botanical Council).
Detailed discussions are held
(usually biennially) in face-to-face
meetings held in an international
setting, rotated from one country to
another, at which the significant
uses for each plant are evaluated for
classification as either REC
(recommended), or TOX (toxic, not
recommended for further use).
Those significant uses that have not
yet been adequately studied are
classified as INV (under investiga-
tion) by TRAMIL. By this means,
and with the knowledge of the
health authorities, TRAMIL seeks
to provide communities and health-
care professionals with practical
information on the treatment of cer-
tain ailments using medicinal
plants, at minimal cost and in harmony
with popular tradition.
In 2007, TRAMIL published its second
edition of “Caribbean Herbal Phar-
macopoeia” as a CD-ROM or e-book
(Copyright 2007: TRAMIL, Apdo.
3370, Santo Domingo, Dominican Re-
public: email [email protected] ).
It includes three hundred and twenty-
one “significant uses” for the medicinal
plant parts of ninety-nine Caribbean
species. Specific dosages are included for
185 out of the 321 significant uses of these
plants. The majority of the medicinal plant
parts have been classified as REC, and at
least six as TOX.
Listed among the harmful plant species
are Lantana camara (“kayakeet” or “wild
sage”), Nicotiana tabacum (“tobacco”)
and Thevetia peruviana (“lucky nut” or
“yellow oleander”), as well as Argemone
mexicana, Datura stramonium, Jatropha
From page 1
Page 2
CaHMRI News
“UNDER NO
CIRCUMSTANCES IS
THIS INFORMATION
INTENDED TO BE USED
AS A BASIS FOR
CONDUCTING
MEDICAL DIAGNOSES,
CLINICAL OR
SURGICAL
PROCEDURES OR
(MEDICAL) LAB.
TESTS.”
Aristolochia trilobata
.Herbal medicinal products (HMPs) re-
main as popular as ever and their use con-
tinues to be on the rise. It is forecast that
in the USA, sales of HMPs will increase
by about nineteen percent over the next
five years; over fifteen billion dollars in
sales were recorded in 2007. The HMPs
are known also as “botanicals”. (Every
botanical or HMP is usually a highly
complex mixture containing a number of
bio-active chemical constituents; and spe-
cial approaches are required in its chemi-
cal analysis).
Despite their widespread use, the vast
majority of HMPs have hardly been stud-
ied scientifically for their safety and effi-
cacy in humans.
In 1999 the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) started to provide funding in a sys-
tematic manner to develop a “botanical
research initiative” in the U.S.A., “to
study the safety, effectiveness and bio-
logical action” of botanicals. This year,
on the 31st August the NIH announced
further funding, for the third five-year
period, of millions of dollars for five
“botanical research centers”. The particu-
lar “botanicals” proposed for study by
these research centers are found amongst
the current best selling HMPs in the
U.S.A. These include garlic and licorice,
and others which are not Caribbean tradi-
tional remedies, such as St. John’s Wort
(Hypericum perforatum) and black co-
hosh (Actaea racemosa).
The results from the work of these re-
search centers will provide healthcare
professionals with the information needed
to counsel people concerning the respon-
sible use of herbal medicinal products.
More information can be gleaned by con-
tacting either:- NCCAM Press Office 301
-496-7790 [email protected], or
ODS Media 301-4352920 ODSme-
Botanical Research Centers of the NIH
Page 3
Volume 2, Issue:4
DESPITE THEIR
WIDESPREAD USE, THE
VAST MAJORITY OF
HMPS HAVE HARDLY
BEEN STUDIED
SCIENTIFICALLY FOR
THEIR SAFETY AND
EFFICACY IN HUMANS.
ibs-help-online.com
Page 4
Volume 2, Issue:4
FUTURE ISSUES will include:
*Counting all the known phytochemicals on Earth
*Harmful herbs
*Ethnomedicines, phytomedicines, nutraceuticals
etc.
*Worm grass in Chemopodium ambrosioides To send us your comments
about this newsletter,
please contact;- The Herbal Institute at UTT at Tel: 1 (868) 673 0029 / 673 2654 [email protected] or [email protected]
Let’s start by describing a pharmacopoeia as a book containing directions for the identi-
fication and preparation of medicinal agents, which is published by the authority of a
government or of a medical or pharmaceutical society.
In one of the articles above, reference was made to a new Caribbean herbal pharmaco-
poeia. This one is a relatively preliminary publication, when compared with much more
comprehensive works such as the Indian herbal pharmacopoeia (since the 1960’s), the
British herbal pharmacopoeia of the 1990’s, and since 1995 the American herbal phar-
macopoeia.
But in each case, the mission is the same, namely to promote the responsible use of
herbal medicinal products in the particular country or region.
Each herbal pharmacopoeia publishes critically reviewed documents called monographs
on medicinal plants and botanicals, selected from among those most frequently used in
the particular country.
The data for the content of each herbal pharmacopoeia largely depends on the results of
scientific evaluation of the selected herbal medicinal products. But such data today still
remains severely lacking, relative to the safety and effectiveness, safe clinical use, and
the potential for harmful interactions of the HMPs with conventional (chemical) medi-
cines, to safeguard the public health. This factor restricts the good that a herbal pharma-
copoeia can actually do at the present time.
What do herbal pharmacopoeias do?