The beginnings of pharmacognosy as a branch of science are claimed to have happened in the early 20th century in Europe, though there are written records of the use of natural materials for healing since antiquity in several places in the world. Whatever ‘science’ in the form of organized systematic knowledge that happened in the…
In the early 20th century, pharmacognosy was basically concerned with the description and identification of drugs both in the whole state and in powder form. Today the subject has expanded enormously into other areas. Botanical aspects being still of fundamental importance for pharmacopoeial identification and quality control purposes, currently microbes and even marine organisms are…
Sustainable utilization of biodiversity, its conservation as well as those of associated knowledge systems is an urgent priority of action for the biodiversity-rich South Asian nations that are home to about 1/5th of the vascular plants of the world.
Metals and minerals are an important aspect of Siddha medicine—an ancient system of indigenous medicine practiced in south India. Formulations containing a significant proportion of heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, copper, etc., have been prescribed since centuries with no reports of toxicity. Several such formulations are successfully used in the management of diseases such…
Toxcity risks and adverse effects Herbal medicine is not free from toxicity. A natural poison can kill as efficiently as a synthetic one. Many herbal remedies can cause harmful drug interactions when accidentally substituted or taken along with conventional medicines. Eg., Aristolochia fangchi when consumed as a substitute for an anti-density chinese herb has been…
While it is true that standardization attempts arose out of the need to deliver a quality-assured product, the situation has become all the more complex with the introduction of the so-called standardized herbal drugs.