|
Herbal Medicine.
Herbal medicine, or phytotherapy is the science of using herbal remedies to treat the sick or enhance well-being. Herbal medicine is experiencing a phenomenal renaissance in Australia and world-wide herbs are the most frequently consumed medicine.
Herbal medicine is sometimes referred to as " new " or " alternative " medicine in Australia.
However, when put into its historical context, herbal medicine is the oldest form of medicine having a 5,000 year unbroken history. Most major civilisations had or have herbal medicine as an integral part of their health care system. In fact, even in the Western world, the pharmacist of today was more of a herbalist 70 years ago.
Medicinal plants prepared as herbal remedies contain numerous chemical substances, many of which affect the human body. These " active " constituents are what make herbs "work" and are chemically classified into different groups according to their physiological strength and action.
As a medical herbalist, it sometimes astound me when I hear many unsubstantiated claims made about the safety of herbs in Australia. Since the inception of The Therapeutic Goods Act and its subsequent enactment by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the quality control and production of herbal medicines are subjected to the highest standards in the world. All herbal manufacturers must be licensed by the TGA and must comply with the strict code of the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) code. By the time the herbs reach the retail shelf, the herbs have been subjected to numerous quality control tests include microbial counts, stability testing, thin layer chromatography (for accurate identification of herbs and their actives), and strict advertising and labeling rules.
It has been said that modern medicine has fallen too much under the spell of chemistry. Medicine is running the risk of building a new Tower of Babel, where people from different disciplines are no longer able to understand each other. Herbal medicine, is perhaps able to take the middle line, making sure that modern medicine doesn't forget and move too far away from its foundations.
To define the role of modern medicine today, it is helpful to look back to the past. About 3,000 years ago, Asclepios of Thessaly, one of the great men of ancient medicine, gave the following sequence for the use of therapeutic agents: ' First the word - then the plant - lastly the knife '. This would obviously have to be modified today to include the use of modern synthetic drugs. But the sequence clearly establishes the degree of seriousness and danger of the different interventions and clearly defines herbal medicine as an integral part of any health care system.
|
Intuitive
type
Dynamic
type
Feeling
type
Intellectual
type
|
|
