Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

E.
F.
1. Regulation of export; and
2. Export to support free trade.
The dissemination of information on medicinal
plants.
The development of medicinal plant on others
i.e. cooperation of agencies, the development of
organic product, certification of worker on Thai
massage, grants for research.
In this research, we used co-words analysis in order
to have the detail result about which topics are core
level, prominence level and emerging level based on
modification of Batthacharya method.
The core topic published by the researchers on Thai herbal
medicine in 1998-2002 was survey of plants used as folk
medicine. This topic was on 22 documents or 6.41 %
of all documents. In accordance with the government’s
program in the development of Thai medicinal plant,
this topic was in line with the government’s program.
An informant said;
“The direction of Thai medicinal plants was to seek
new sources of natural products for medicinal plant
used in the country.”
An informant, a pharmacologist, also said that the
direction of Thai medicinal plants researches was the
use of plants for aromatherapy including seeking plants
and extracting their compounds.
Surveys of medicinal plants in any provinces in Thailand
was carried out to identify plants and their ethno medical
use in order to conserve the native knowledge about
folk medicines and to search new potential candidates
for modern drug investigations and development.
(Chuakul, Boonjaras, and Boonpleng, 2002)
Those activities were also crucial if related to an effort
of Thai government to protect its biodiversity. The
documentation of knowledge of traditional medicine
was one of efforts to prohibit to be patented the
knowledge by ineligible parties.
We studied through several research documents on
survey of medicinal plants that Thais in rural area use
many kinds of plant as medicine. An informant said
that Thai government conducted high promotion of the
use of medicinal plants in rural area. Since 1980 Thai
government was promoting and supporting activities
relating to the usage of medicinal plants and traditional
Thai medicine in primary health care especially in rural
area. (Kuanpoth, u.d.)
CHANGING LIFESTYLES AND HEALTH
215
The prominent topics of Thai medicinal plant researches
were four species of medicinal plants, as follows:
1. Durio zibethinus (Thai: Turian, Indonesian: Durian),
study polysaccharide gel (PG) from the fruit hull
of Durian for preventing cholesterol absorption
and antibacterial activities, for preparation
pharmaceutical and dietary fiber and the toxicity
of fruit hall extract;
2. Psidium guajava (Thai: Farang, Indonesian: Jambu
biji), study the antibacterial activities, topical
homeostasis of the extract;
3. Cassia siamea (Thai: Ton Kee Lek, Indonesian: Johar),
study the extracting, the biological activity for some
diseases, and the stability of its compound; and
4. Curcuma longa (Thai: Ka-minn chan, Indonesian:
Kunyit), study the antibacterial activity, antifungal
activity, the safety of extract, antiulcer activity and
as ingredients of cosmetics.
Others prominence topic of medicinal plant researches
were the determination of anti plasmodium of Thai
medicinal plants and the determination of chemical
structure of therapeutic compounds particularly flavonoids,
alkaloids and terpenoid.
It seemed that Thai researches on herbal medicine
focused on searching compounds having activity on
antibacterial and anti-plasmodium. In reality the
communicable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea,
tuberculosis and malaria were the leading cause of death
for children less than five years however the cases of
malaria and tuberculosis showed declining trend as an
important cause of mortality. (WHO-Regional Office
for Southeast Asia, 2005) Nevertheless no informant
talked about the relation between the policy of research
on medicinal plants and the diseases pattern of Thai
society.
In general, the emerging topics of Thai medicinal plant
published in 1998-2002 were as follow:
1. Determination of biological activities particularly
antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antineoplastic, antidiabetic,
antioxidant, antimutagenic, antivector (mosquitos
of Culex, Aedes and Anopheles), and antiulcer
activities of medicinal plants extract;
2. Extraction of therapeutic compounds from Thai
medicinal plant; and
3. Determination of safety and efficacy of herbal
medicine.
In accordance those topics to the government program of
the development of medicinal plant, an informant said;
“The development of Thai Medicinal Plants followed
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows