Medicinal Products
Medicinal and herbal raw materials are
processed into final form [i.e. capsule, pill,
cosmetic, tea, lotion, etc.] by industry and
distributed throughout the world to health
food stores, over-the-counter drug stores, and
prescription drug pharmacies.
Value addition at the collector's level is highly
limited due to lack of available resources and
lack of market knowledge. Dealers usually
require that collectors clean, dry, and sort
medicinal and herbal products. Some dealers
dry and sort them into bigger bales and sacks
for sale to other buyers. Usually, local
processing of medicinal and herbal products
will violate the Pure Food and Cosmetic Act
which prohibits the sale of patent or
proprietary medicine. Even at the dealer
level, value addition is limited due to strict
quality and safety standards of the Food and
Drug Administration and industrial buyers.
Often buyers will conduct chemical analysis
on each bale of raw material and if the
product fails to meet their standards or that
of the Food and Drug Administration, the
whole batch may be returned to the dealer.
Natural Resource
Natural medicinal and herbal products
involves the use of leaves, stems, roots,
bark, seeds, fruit, flowers and buds to make
teas, tonics, powder, snuff, poultices,
salves, tinctures, lotions, and smoke
inhalers.
Traditionally, these products formed the
basis for medical care in rural southern
Appalachia. With the advent of synthetic
and manufactured medicines, natural
healing fell out of common use but the
knowledge of plant properties continues to
be passed down through generations and
many continue to gather for use in their
home.
Herbs and medicinal products are a very
important part of modern medicine and
health supplement industries. Plants
provide treatments for such diseases as
cancer, leukemia, heart disease, and pain
relief for major trauma. Over 40% of
prescription drugs, or over $15 billion in
sales in 1997, contain at least one natural
element. Also, the demand for natural
health supplements is growing rapidly
around the world.
However, industry, government, and
individuals now recognize that the growing
consumer interest jeopardizes these
products' sustainability in the wild. In April
of 1998, a coalition of scientists,
conservation organizations, botanical
gardens, and museums released the results
of a twenty year global assessment of plants
at risk which established a conservative
estimate that 29% of the United States
16,000 plant species are at risk of
extinction. Medicinal plants are at risk from
over-harvesting and loss of habitat caused
by urban development and suburban sprawl.
Priority Medicinal and Herbal Plants
Black cohosh root *
Bloodroot *
Blue cohosh root *
Catnip herb *
Echinacea
Ginseng herb & root *
Goldenseal herb & root *
Lobelia herb *
Mayapple *
Pink root *
Red clover blossoms
Sassafras leaves, bark & root
Slippery elm bark *
Solomon seal root
Star grub root
St. John's wort
Sweet gum
Wild cherry bark
Wild ginger root
Wild hydrangea
Witch hazel bark & leaves
* are on the United Plant Savers AT RISK list.
Of the species on the United Plant Savers
AT RISK list, 83% are roots or rhizomes; so
collection destroys not only the plants but
thousands of seeds. All the At Risk species
are perennials and data is scanty on how
old a plant has to be before they display the
characteristic for which they are harvested.
Ginger must be 10 years old and ginseng
needs 6-10 years to be worth harvesting.
Long lived perennials cannot rebound
quickly like annual or shorter lived plants.
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