Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, 2006 Agricultural, Commercial, Ecological, Legal, Pharmacological and Social Aspects Wageningen UR Frontis Series, Vol. 17

This book reports the proceedings of an international panel of specialists that explored the agricultural, commercial, ecological, legal, pharmacological and social future of medicinal and aromatic plants at a conference organized by Frontis ? Wageningen International Nucleus for Strategic Expertise in Wageningen, The Netherlands. During the three-day conference, members of the panel presented and discussed a variety of facts, thoughts and opinions on research needs and potential importance of medicinal and aromatic plants among developed and developing societies. Hopefully, the information and particulars brought forth during presentations and discussions by panel members and summarized in these proceedings will initiate continued dialogue about the role and prospect of growing, collecting and processing medicinal and aromatic plants with pharmacological and industrial applications. As the reader will note, these proceedings represent a wide collection of views, reflecting the diversity of disciplines and interests of panel members that enabled thoughtful deliberations from a range of perspectives. The panel highlighted the necessity of continued and integrated research on plant sources, conservation, bioactivity, analysis and marketing in examining future scenarios for application and sale of medicinal and aromatic plants. Of special concern was the need for proof of efficacy and safety in drug development and the need to recognize societies contributing plant materials.

The Challenge of Non-Experimental Validation of Mac Plants.- Medicinal Plants and Tomorrow’s Pharmacy.- Cultivation of Medicinal Plants as a Tool for Biodiversity Conservation and Poverty Alleviation in the Amatola Region, South Africa.- Conversations with Farmers in Sri Lanka.- Connecting the Disadvantaged to the Uninformed.- A Comparison of Cultivation and Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Under Sustainability Aspects.- Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.- Revision of the ‘Guidelines on the Conservation of Medicinal Plants’ By Who, IUCN, WWF and Traffic.- Intellectual Property Protection for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.- Amidst Peril and Progress.- International Trade in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.- Designing for Development.- Devil’s Claw (Harpagophytum Procumbens) from Southern Africa.- Conservation of Eastern-European Medicinal Plants.- What is Marketing?.- Demand and Availability of Rhodiola Rosea L. Raw Material.- Drying of Medicinal Plants.- Quality Control in the Production Chain of Herbal Products.- Plants as Source of Medicines.- Research to Improve Artemisinin Production for use in the Preparation of Anti-Malarial Drugs.- Functional Genomic Approaches to Study and Engineer Secondary Metabolism in Plant Cell Cultures.- The Schweinfurthins.

A unique combination of trade, ecological (conservation), processing, socioeconomic and pharmacological aspects of the whole supply chain from the plant to the consumer A thorough examination of potential benefits of medicinal and aromatic plants in society An expert analysis of successes and failures in sourcing, using and commercializing medicinal and aromatic plants A collaborative look at the future for medicinal and aromatic plants in developed and developing societies