Herbal medicines

Unprescribed use of herbal medicines are not 'completely safe' and need proper regulation.

Scientists have cautioned against the unprescribed use of herbal medicines, which they aver are not 'completely safe' and need proper regulation.

Professor Peter Houghton, of King's College in London said that nearly a fifth of the population takes herbal medicines at least once a year, but little is known about their interaction with manufactured pharmaceutical products.

"Nothing in life is completely safe, and there is a myth that because something is natural it must be safe," the Daily Mail quoted Houghton as saying in the BA Festival of Science in Exeter, London.

"Problems could arise if the product was mixed with something dangerous or if people took the wrong substance, perhaps because of a mix up over names. Herbal medicines are not completely safe but they are safer than a lot of conventional therapy," he added.

Dr Elizabeth Williamson, of the Centre for Pharmocognasy and Phytotherapy at the University of London said that though many Chinese and Indian medicines are safe, also expressed her scepticism about it at the same time.

"There have been a couple of serious problems with Chinese medicines because they have been adulterated and contaminated. This is giving ethnic medicine a bad name. I would be glad to see it regulated in some form. But any future legislation needed to be "pragmatic"," the report quoted Williamson as saying.