Traditional Medicine in Asia

Traditional Medicine in Asia
plant, with the exception of those plants
included in the list of poisonous substances,
and no herbalist may store or sell any other
pharmaceutical preparation or speciality.
Labelling, Advertising and
Promotion
Few regulatory texts have specific provisions
concerning the labelling, advertising and
promotion of medicinal plants. Those that
do address these issues tend to extend to
herbal medicines the general provisions
applied to other medicinal products. A few
countries do have discrete and specific
provisions
Norway requires herbs and blended
herbs available over-the-counter (OTC) to
carry the following warnings
“The medicinal effect of this
preparation has not been assessed by the
public authorities responsible for the
control of medicaments”.
Brazil requires the botanical classification
of the medicinal plant to appear
on labels and wrappers. No proprietary
name is required in China either for
medicinal plants or for decoctions
prepared in accordance with Chinese
traditional medicine. Indonesia requires
that traditional drugs intended for clinical
trials must be labelled with the words
“intended for Clinical Trials; Not for Sale”.
Gambia prohibits all advertising of
products derived from plants cultivated in
the country and used as traditional
medicines, unless specific approval has
been obtained from the Medicines Board.
Research and Institutional
Mechanisms
Several African countries provide for further
research on medicinal plants. The National
Pharmaceutical Bureau of Burundi, the
Central Laboratory at Mototo in Guinea,
the National Institute for Medical Research
202
of Tanzania, the Institute of Medical
Research and Medicinal Plants of
Cameroon, and the National Institute for
Research on the Traditional Pharmacopoeia
and Traditional Medicine of Mali have
a statutory responsibility to undertake
research relating to medicinal plants.
Conclusions
Despite increasing pressures for the
introduction of controls, relatively few
countries have enacted specific legislative
measures to control either the use of
medicinal plants or of herbal preparations
derived from them in respect of which there
is only limited data concerning their quality,
safety and efficacy. Legislative texts of those
countries that have developed systems for
the scientific and technical assessment of
the quality, safety and efficacy of medicinal
plants, as well as guidelines formulated
under the aegis of the World Health
Organization, define the criteria for
assessment and the procedures to be
followed in undertaking such assessments.
As the assessment of medicinal plants
cannot be guided by systematic or long
experience, it is important that drug
regulatory authorities wishing to regulate
medicinal plants as well as assess them
make the maximum use of the accumulated
wisdom of those authorities with more
experience in this relatively unchartered
territory. The new United Nations Convention
on Biological Diversity offers a stimulus to
countries that wish to review the control of
medicinal plants within a framework that
maintains a balance between reasonable
exploitation and conservation.
Traditional Medical
Practitioners
Traditional medical practitioners exist in
almost every society; not all prefer to be