American Botanical Council
HerbClip
Date: TO: December 11, 1995 General Distribution
FILE: Herbs General
HC 12-11-5-1
Re:
Associated Press Article on Herbs
Coleman, Brenda C. Herbal Medicine Gets Attention. AP 3 Dec 95 12:01 EST V0086. The enclosed article was distributed by the Associated Press on December 3, 1995. It appeared in various forms in newspapers throughout the U.S. over the next few weeks. According to the article, the World Health Organization estimates that four-fifths of the world’s population relies on traditional and natural medicine such as plants and herbal remedies for their health care needs. Many developed countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, have integrated the use of herbal remedies into their health care systems. In the United States, however, government regulations, a lack of a continuous tradition of use, and misinformation from the field of conventional medicine about the safety and efficacy of herbal medicines have kept herbs out of the mainstream. Yet U.S consumers have created an explosion in the herbal products industry in the past few years, as demand for herbs grown. Peggy Brevoort, former president of the American Herbal Products Association, likens the U.S. herb industry to that of the computer industry, which also has grown at an incredible rate over the past few years, and which continues to grow. Demand for accurate information about herb safety and efficacy has also become evident; the nonprofit, educational Herb Research Foundation (HRF), located in Boulder, Colorado, receives about 20,000 information requests a year, according to HRF president Robert S. McCaleb. Mark Blumenthal, Executive Director of the American Botanical Council (ABC), HRF’s sister organization, estimates that ABC fields about
5,000 to 6,000 inquiries a year. He notes that the information requests are increasing among health professionals, physicians, and the press. HerbalGram, a magazine published jointly by ABC and HRF, aims to provide scientifically accurate information about herbs and botanicals for lay people and academics alike. In keeping with the upsurge in interest in herbal medicine, U.S. companies and organizations such as the National Cancer Institute have begun to invest their time, money, and effort into plant research, in the hopes of discovering plant compounds to solve some of our most pressing health issues today, such as cancer and AIDS. Curiously, this article was written during fall 1994 and apparently sat on an AP Editor’s desk for one year!
Bin #77