Srirama Ramanujam, Santhosh Kumar J U, Seethapathy G S, Newmaster Steven G, Ragupathy S, Ganeshaiah K N, Uma Shaanker R, Ravikanth Gudasalamani
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur Post, Bangalore, 560064, India.
School of Ecology and Conservation, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore, 560065, India.
Drug Saf. 2017 Aug;40(8):651-661. doi: 10.1007/s40264-017-0527-0.
The global economy of the international trade of herbal products has been increasing by 15% annually, with the raw material for most herbal products being sourced from South and Southeast Asian countries. In India, of the 8000 species of medicinal plants harvested from the wild, approximately 960 are in the active trade. With increasing international trade in herbal medicinal products, there is also increasing concern about the widespread adulteration and species admixtures in the raw herbal trade. The adverse consequences of such species adulteration on the health and safety of consumers have only recently begun to be recognised and documented. We provide a comprehensive review of the nature and magnitude of species adulteration in the raw herbal trade, and identify the underlying drivers that might lead to such adulteration. We also discuss the possible biological and chemical equivalence of species that are used as adulterants and substitutes, and the consequences thereof to consumer health and safety, and propose a framework for the development of a herbal trade authentication service that can help regulate the herbal trade market.
全球草药产品国际贸易经济每年以15%的速度增长，大多数草药产品的原材料来自南亚和东南亚国家。在印度，从野生环境中采集的8000种药用植物中，约960种处于活跃贸易中。随着草药产品国际贸易的增加，人们也越来越关注生草药贸易中普遍存在的掺假和物种混杂问题。这种物种掺假对消费者健康和安全的不利影响直到最近才开始得到认识和记录。我们全面综述了生草药贸易中物种掺假的性质和程度，并确定了可能导致此类掺假的潜在驱动因素。我们还讨论了用作掺假物和替代品的物种可能存在的生物学和化学等效性，及其对消费者健康和安全的影响，并提出了一个开发草药贸易认证服务的框架，该服务有助于规范草药贸易市场。
