Potential endocrine disruptors in herbal medicine: A second look at regulatory issues

5^th International Conference and Exhibition on Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs

August 03-05, 2015 Orlando, USA

Augustine Onyeaghala

University College Hospital, Ibadan

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: Pharmaceut Reg Affairs

Abstract :

Background: Herbal remedies have been used for several years by people from diver cultures and climes. Prior to the advent of modern medicine, use of herbal medicine was the only available treatment known to mankind. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2005 had reported that significant percentage of the world population rely heavily on herbal medicine to meet their basic health needs. The same report showed that the use of herbal medicine throughout the world exceeded that of conventional drugs by two to three times. In Africa, over 90% of individuals rely on herbal medicine. The voracious use of herbal medicine by different people is premised on the belief that herbal drugs are safe and may be consumed at any quantity without side effects. Other reasons are availability and accessibility at minimal cost. However, use of traditional medicine is not only limited to developing countries, but extensive use of herbal products has also been reported among people in the developed nations. In the United States, a survey by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine revealed that the use of herbal therapy or natural products other than vitamins and minerals was the most common especially when all other forms of traditional medicine were excluded. Recent analysis of a named herbal medicine using GC/MS, NMR and FTIR analysis showed the presence of potential estrogen disruptors (PED). Potential endocrine disruptors are exogenous chemicals or mixtures of substances which interfere with normal endocrine functions thereby resulting in adverse hormonal function either in an intact organism, the offspring or the entire population. High prevalence in non communicable diseases such as cancer, infertility and cardiovascular diseases have all been linked to either the presence of Estrogen Disruptors (EDs) or Potential Endocrine Disruptors ( PEDs). The economic burden caused by EDs/PEDs is high. How should the regulation of herbal remedies be improved especially in the developing countries in order to reduce the adverse effects caused by these chemicals? This shall be the focus of this presentation.

Biography :

Email: aonyeaghala@ymail.com