Although the growing conditions for herbs are of vital importance, one cannot assume that just because a plant looks healthy, has lush foliage and a scintillating fresh aroma that it is suitable to be used in herbal medicines.
It is essential that raw herbs are correctly tested for microbiologial contamination such as yeasts and moulds, e-coli and salmonella. They also need to be tested for contamination resulting from pollution such as lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic (especially important for herbs grown close to urban areas or arterial roads). In addition testing needs to be carried out to ensure that no extraneous plant material has been gathered up when harvesting the herbs, and this is of crucial importance when the herb concerned has a close relative that can be mistaken at first glance for the medicinal version of the plant.
The effectiveness of herbal medicines depends on the purity of the raw herbs used.
No comments:
Post a Comment