Medicinal Plants: Economic Perspective and Recent

DevelopmentsBy Mr. Allah Dad Khan

Importance

Medicinal plants are an integral part of our health care system. The therapeutic potential of plants and plant based product are recognized throughout the world. Globally.

Different systems of treatment exist such as Allopathic, Homeopathic, Ayurverdic, Chinese system of treatment etc.

The developed communities have their own Materia Medica, compiling comprehensive information about various plants used for therapeutic purposes

Situation

The international herbal trade market is revolving around China and Indo-Pak while the total global herbal market of plant-based drugs has been estimated as $ 25-30 billion annually.

The modern medical setup recognizing and moving to a system based on the combination of orthodox and natural therapies for the effective treatment of disorders.

Traditional medicine

A traditional health care practice of indigenous people pertaining to human health is termed as Ethnomedicine. The knowledge of certain herbs, animals and minerals that have curative and palliative effects were transmitted from one generation to another and it is the outcome of bold experimentation through trial and error method over hundreds of years.

Ethnomedicine is the mother of all other systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Nature cure and even modern medicine. The traditional herbalists are part and parcel of the community and are often familiar with the details of each family and its environs, so that they are in a better position to deal with their day-to-day problems. In fact the native healers take care of the common ailments of the folk in their home .

The Knowledge about efficacy of Herbal medicines

The traditional medicinal knowledge is thought to be within every one’s reach and does not require any study or training to practice it. In some families almost all the members are acquainted with some part or other of herbal remedies.

The traditional healers specialize in particular areas of their profession. Thus we find some medical practitioners are expert in bone setting, wound healing, poisonous bites, neurological disorders, etc. and some others in spiritual healing, especially the use of incantations while others combine both in their treatment

It is important to note that there is no doubt about the efficacy of herbal medicine among its users. Rural and urban poor people in India rely on herbal remedies since these are within their reach. In fact in remote areas this is the only source of health care available.

Status of traditional medicine in the world

Folklorists, anthropologists and medical scientists alike are studying traditional medicine or ethnomedicine in some countries like Russia, Africa and few European countries

In Russia particularly serious attempts have been made in the post revolution period to scientifically investigate the natural and herbal remedies of native medicine. It is understood that in Russia if a good home remedy is found for any serious ailment it is usually publicized and praised at the highest medical level. This is indeed a highly commendable trend not so evident in other countries.

China and Herbs

China for example is able to provide adequate health care coverage for its vast urban and rural population due to amalgamation of traditional health care system with modern medicine.

The inability of the poor countries to develop their own legacy of indigenous medicinal knowledge is because it is denied official recognition. This is partly responsible for the current inadequate health care in underdeveloped countries.

Modern health care is not equitably provided due to financial limitations and majority of the people lack access to adequate health care

Traditional medicinal contributions to primary health care

In this context the contribution made by the traditional medicine to modern system of medicine is worth noting. The well-established drugs given in Table are among dozens that have been developed by the scientists after analysing the chemical constituents of plants traditionally used by tribals and villagers.

For instance, researchers isolated reserpine in 1952 from the herb Rauvolfia serpentina that has been employed in India for many centuries by the natives to treat snakebites and mental illness.

Approaches needed for the develop-ment of traditional medicine

As herbal medicine is the first level of contact for rural people when they require medical care, it is imperative for governments to take immediate steps to introduce the use of traditional medicine to supplement PHC. The government should provide environment to the people

Zoo-pharmacognosy approach

Observation of the behavior of the animals with a view to identify the candidate plants for new drug discovery is not a distant phenomenon. Observation of straight tails linked to cattle grazing habits in certain regions of South America led to identification of a plant Cestrum diurnum and three other plant members of family Solanaceae, which probably are the only known plant sources of the derivatives of Vitamin D3. This approach, however, needs close observation and monitoring of the behavior of animals.

Better Natural Known Drugs

Plant Product UsesOpium Poppy Heroin ,

morphine.codeine Pain

Blue agave Tequila PainCoca leaves Cocaine Pain Ephedra sinica Sudafed Psilocybin mushroom ShroomWillow Bark Aspirin Fever and Pain Sassafras root EcstasyPencillin mold Pencillin Antibiotics

Better Natural Known Drugs

Plant Product UsesCinchona Quinine AntimalarialTea Caffine Astringent. Pain killerMint Menthol Rubifaient Papaya Peppin Highly DigestiveBacterium Tetracycline AntibioticBelladona Attropine Pain Killer Indian Snake Root Respirin HypertensionFoxglove Digoxin CardiacYew Taxol Ovarian Cancer Artimisia Artimisin Antimalarial

1. Opium poppy (heroin, morphine, codeine)

Morphine is one of the many opiates that come from the opium poppy. The poppy is sliced while still in bud form, and the milky fluid (latex) that bleeds out is dried, becoming raw opium. Then a long process of adding dangerous chemicals, filtering, and cooking increases the potency of the drug. Heroin is a super-strong, quickly absorbed form of morphine, and the most intense use of opium. English researcher C.R. Wright accidentally created it for the first time in 1874 when he boiled morphine and acetic anhydride together on his stove

2. Blue agave (Tequila)

Alcohol is unique in the world of drugs because it's made through the process of fermentation, not a particular basic ingredient. Fermentation occurs when yeast eats the sugars of whatever plant you're using, the by-product being ethanol (drinkable alcohol). In tequila, named for the Mexican town where it originated, the sugar comes from the beautiful blue agave. The center of the blue agave looks like pineapple. After it's roasted and mashed, it provides the sugar that, once properly rotted, leaves behind alcohol

3. Coca leaves (cocaine)

Coca leaves, mostly grown in South America, have to go through some pretty ugly steps to become cocaine. Steps involving powdered cement, gasoline soaks, and battery acid baths are all needed to condense the naturally occurring leaves into an illegal narcotic. The leaves themselves have been used by native populations for centuries as a (much milder) stimulant and medication. Spanish physician and botanist Nicolás Monardes described the effect of the leaves in 1569: "When they wished to make themselves drunk and out of judgment they chewed a mixture of tobacco and coca leaves which make them go as they were out of their wittes

4. Ephedra sinica (Sudafed, meth)

This scraggly little bush, also called ma huang, has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. If it sounds familiar, that's because decongestants like Sudafed once synthesized their main ingredient from ephedra (pseudoephedrine). Products containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine are very hard to find now, as the U.S. government considers it a controlled substance. The alkaloids in the plant can be abused, most commonly in the form of weight-loss drugs and meth

5. Psilocybin mushroom (shrooms)

Psilocybin, the naturally occurring compound that causes the euphoria and psychedelic trips associated with shrooms, can be found in over 200 species of mushrooms, most of which grow wild in Mexico. Different mushrooms have different concentrations of psilocybin, even varying in which part of the fungus you eat. A word of advice to the adventure seeker: Shrooms can be indistinguishable from any number of lethally poisonous mushrooms. Consuming unknown mushrooms may send you on a trip that takes you much further than you intended

6. Willow bark (aspirin)

Salicylic acid, found in willow bark, has cooled fevered brows across the world for millennia. Even Hippocrates, the father of medicine, used to recommend chewing the bark to reduce fevers and inflammation in his patients, around 300 B.C. The willow tree has strains native to Europe, China, and North America, all of which can be used in medicine. It was from this bark that scientists at the German company Bayer developed aspirin in 1897. An interesting side note: Bayer lost all its patents and trademarks in World War I, when the U.S. government seized the firm as spoils of war and auctioned it off to an American patent medicine company.

7. Sassafras root (ecstasy)

Root beer and sarsaparilla used to have actual sassafras oil in them for flavor. They don't anymore, since the chemical in the oil, safrole, is now a controlled substance. Distilled from the roots and bark of the sassafras tree, safrole is a key ingredient in the manufacture of ecstasy. Not in its original form, of course. It is the treatments with formaldehyde, paint thinner, and drain cleaner that make sassafras oil such a delightful thing to put inside your body.

8. Penicillium mold (penicillin)

Penicillin: The mighty, moldy world changer. It was the first drug to effectively combat bacterial infections, leading to cures of an untold number of afflictions, from strep to syphilis. It was discovered accidentally by Alexander Fleming in 1928. He forgot about a petri dish filled with staph bacteria he'd left out, and he discovered blue green penicillium mold growing all over it. Penicillium mold is an incredibly common species of mold, apt to grow on organic material wherever conditions are dank enough. Wherever the mold touched the staph, the bacteria was gone. Fleming didn't think it would work in people and never tried to make medicine out of it. That was done years later by Australian Nobel laureate Howard Walter Florey, together with the German Nobel laureate Ernst Chain and the English biochemist Norman Heatley.