Chan K
Research and Development Division, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, PR China.
Chemosphere. 2003 Sep;52(9):1361-71. doi: 10.1016/S0045-6535(03)00471-5.
A World Health Organisation survey indicated that about 70-80% of the world populations rely on non-conventional medicine mainly of herbal sources in their primary healthcare. In recent years, we have witnessed the increasing growth in popularity of over-the-counter (OTC) health foods, nutraceuticals, and medicinal products from plants or other natural sources in developed countries. This indirectly indicates that the public is not satisfied with their orthodox medical (OM) treatment. Such increase in popularity has also brought concerns and fears over the professionalism of practitioners, and quality, efficacy and safety of their treatment methods and products from herbal and natural sources available in the market. Over the past decade several news-catching episodes in developed communities indicated adverse effects, sometimes life threatening, allegedly arisen consequential to taking of OTC herbal products or traditional medicines from various ethnic groups. These OTC products may be contaminated with excessive or banned pesticides, microbial contaminants, heavy metals, chemical toxins, and for adulterated with orthodox drugs. Excessive or banned pesticides, heavy metals and microbial contaminants may be related to the source of these herbal materials, if they are grown under contaminated environment or during collection of these plant materials. Chemical toxins may come from unfavourable or wrong storage conditions or chemical treatment due to storage. The presence of orthodox drugs can be related to unprofessional practice of manufacturers. Some of these environment related factors can be controlled by implementing standard operating procedures (SOP) leading to Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), Good Supply Practice (GSP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for producing these medicinal products from herbal or natural sources. The public's belief that herbal and natural products are safer than synthetic medicines can only be ascertained by imposing regulatory standards on these products that should be manufactured using these Good Practices. Using Chinese medicines, as examples, this paper illustrate how advances in chemical and biomedical analysis would help to detect intentional and unintentional toxic contaminants in herbal substances. The paper also summarises how modernization and progress are being carried out to get the best out of Chinese medicines for public healthcare.
世界卫生组织的一项调查表明，世界上约70 - 80%的人口在其初级医疗保健中主要依赖非传统医学，主要是草药来源。近年来，我们目睹了发达国家非处方（OTC）保健食品、营养保健品以及来自植物或其他天然来源的医药产品越来越受欢迎。这间接表明公众对其正统医学（OM）治疗不满意。这种受欢迎程度的增加也引发了对从业者专业性以及市场上草药和天然来源的治疗方法和产品的质量、疗效和安全性的担忧和恐惧。在过去十年中，发达社区的几起引人注目的事件表明，服用非处方草药产品或来自不同种族群体的传统药物会产生不良影响，有时甚至危及生命。这些非处方产品可能被过量或违禁农药、微生物污染物、重金属、化学毒素污染，或者掺有正统药物。如果草药材料生长在受污染的环境中或在采集这些植物材料时，过量或违禁农药、重金属和微生物污染物可能与这些草药材料的来源有关。化学毒素可能来自不利或错误的储存条件或储存期间的化学处理。正统药物的存在可能与制造商的不专业做法有关。通过实施标准操作程序（SOP），从而实现良好农业规范（GAP）、良好实验室规范（GLP）、良好供应规范（GSP）和良好生产规范（GMP），可以控制其中一些与环境相关的因素，以生产这些来自草药或天然来源的医药产品。公众认为草药和天然产品比合成药物更安全的观点，只有通过对这些应采用这些良好规范生产的产品实施监管标准才能确定。本文以中药为例，说明了化学和生物医学分析的进展将如何有助于检测草药中的有意和无意有毒污染物。本文还总结了为了充分利用中药促进公共医疗保健正在进行的现代化和进步情况。
