Keynote Lecture 4 “Deep dive into the world of medicinal plants – the chamber of secrets has been opened, enemies of HERBS… beware”

The use of herbal medicine has increased worldwide, serving as a tool in many health systems. While an important aspect in preserving cultural diversity, assessment of efficacy, quality control and safety monitoring is necessary to secure the future regulatory status of plant-based preparations. Herbals have become widely available on the EU market offering plenty of preparations with significant differences in classification, under the categories of herbal medicinal products, medical devices, cosmetics or food supplements.

The EU has considered medicinal use of herbal products through mainly the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (2004/24EC) and the Herbal Medicinal Products Committee (HMPC) at the European Medicines Agency recognising and assessing the data on benefits and risks from application experiences in health services research. However, considerable difficulties remain, with little application data available for the use of HMPs in special groups (pregnant and lactating women, children and patients with concomitant diseases and therapies).

Several non-European traditional therapies are in use in the EU (TCM, Ayurveda etc.) with many herbals in daily practice, while recently, medicinal cannabis has been introduced in the EU, if not yet in a fully harmonised way.

Thousands of food supplements under the umbrella of EFSA follow their own procedural schemes, while the educational system towards knowledge in herbal medicines in the EU remains mostly either unchanged or inadequate.

The value, phytochemical properties, health advantages, traditional and modern applications of herbs, along with their uses and given education in the EU, will be thoroughly discussed in this presentation and session.

 

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Conflict of Interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
16. November 2023