Herbal Medicine

        Sheik Fuao Abu Amir of Baghdad, Iraq has been extremely dissatisfied with the drugs being sold from local pharmacies in his city. The people he knows have been telling him that they do more bad than good, and for a good reason. The problem appears to be that there is no regulation or control of pharmaceuticals in Iraq. This allows unapproved drugs to be passed on to the public, causing health problems and fake remedies to spread through the country unhindered.

         Thankfully Abu Amir, along with many other Iraqi citizens, had found the solution to getting around the shady marketing of unlicensed pharmacies: a return to his ancestors’ ancient medicinal roots, which had been almost long gone due to a change in society’s standards for medicine. Now, he is one of the many owners of dozens of rapidly emerging natural remedy stores around Baghdad. “People used to fear natural remedies,” says Jafar Yassin, another herbal medicine retailer in Baghdad. “Now people are using them more and more, and there are herbal medicine stores in every neighborhood.”

         Herbal medicine making is one of the oldest fields of both formal and informal study known. It varies widely from different countries, cultures, and tribes. The history of herbal medicine dates back thousands of years, some of the earliest examples coming from ancient Egypt over 6000 years ago. China also provided some of the earliest examples of natural medicine credited to the emperor Shen-nung, who lived over 4,500 years ago. There have been many cultural revivals of the practice of herbal medicine over the course of history, such as the Age of Herbals that rose in the early Renaissance.

         Today, though, ignorance in the medical world prevents the practice of alternative medicine from gaining a respectable reputation in the United States along with some other wealthier countries. In fact, a survey was conducted among 26 medical residents in a Canadian hospital about their opinions of the risks and benefits of herbal medicine. Not only did they believe that its usefulness was ‘less than favorable’, but the study revealed that they lacked any kind of formal training and knowledge about referring patients to sources regarding herbal medicines. This results from the thought that these cures are “primitive” and are unworthy of medical use.

         Though they suffer from poor reception in the pharmaceutical world, the use of natural medicine is gradually increasing around the world, especially in smaller third-world countries without healthcare systems. At least 56% of the world’s population was using these cures by 1979, and the percentage since then has gradually increased. Now, the annual market for herbal medicine is approaching 60 billion dollars, and millions have been invested into discovering more of these cures.

         As more money is invested into natural medicine, more and more people are experiencing newer innovations to old remedies. Countries such as China that are very densely populated rely on a combination of herbal medicine and other treatments to serve the needs of their people. For example, a study was conducted to see if the effect of Chinese herbal medicine against atopic dermatitis was increased when combined with acupuncture. After 12 weeks of treatment of patients ranging from ages 13 to 48, a significant improvement in 100% of patients was reported. This proves that with further study, the effects of herbal medicine can be increased significantly.

        There are still places in the world where cures remain without western influence, one of the most prominent examples being India. Ayurveda, the traditional science of using herbs and roots for all medical purposes, remains unchanged from how it used to be.  Remedies from this practice include everything from stomach-calming digestives to dandruff-fighting conditioners.

         Unfortunately, there are threats that are endangering the uses of many useful natural medicines. There are many uncivilized tribes that have not been discovered yet, and with them cures that have also not been discovered. Ethnobotanists are trying to locate and communicate with these tribes to learn their cures before they are lost forever. Another threat is the widespread destruction of tropical rain forests, which eventually place thousands of species of plants on the brink of extinction.

         “For every disease that afflicts mankind, there is a treatment or a cure occurring naturally on this earth.” says Dr. Norman Farnsworth, former Consultant to the World Health Organization and Pharmacologist at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He is one of many people in this world that does not deny the power of natural medicine, but there are still many more to convince. If more people start to realize the potential of plants and how much good they can do for our physical and mental wellbeing, it is possible that we could return a long lost practice to its former glory.