Medicinal plants and phytomedicines

The past decade has witnessed a tremendous resurgence in the interest and use of medicinal plant products, especially in North America. Surveys of plant medicinal usage by the American public have shown an increase from just about 3% of the population in 1991 to over 37% in 1998 (Brevoort, 1998). The North American market for sales of plant medicinals has climbed to about $3 billion/year (Glaser, 1999). Once the domain of health-food and specialty stores, phytomedicines have clearly re-emerged into the mainstream as evidenced by their availability for sale at a wide range of retail outlets, the extent of their advertisement in the popular media, and the recent entrance of several major pharmaceutical companies into the business of producing phytomedicinal products (Brevoort, 1998; Glaser, 1999). No doubt a major contributing factor to this great increase in phytomedicinal use in the United States has been the passing of federal legislation in 1994 (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act or “DSHEA”) that facilitated the production and marketing of phytomedicinal products (Brevoort, 1998).