Rationale for Increased Support 

• Many U.S. consumers mistakenly believe that herbal products are scientifically proven to be effective, are regulated by the FDA, and are safe because the products are natural.  In fact, consumer use of herbal products is a serious and growing public health problem despite the relative lack of credible scientific evidence that supports therapeutic efficacy.
  

• Between 1990 and 1997, use of herbal products grew by 380%.   An estimated 15 million adults (18.4% of all prescription users) took prescription medications concurrently with herbal remedies – underscoring the risk of unanticipated and potentially dangerous interactions between the two.  Yet there is little scientific data or study concerning such interactions.

• Once regulated as drugs, legislation in 1994 eliminated FDA’s pre-market testing or approval of herbal products.  Thus, at a time when more consumers are using more herbal products, there is little research on their clinical efficacy or basic mechanisms of action. 

• Sound pharmacological studies will help determine the potential for interactions between herbal products and prescription drugs as well as chronic disease processes.

• Many plant-derived substances have been scientifically proven to have important medicinal benefits to humans. Some prescription drugs from plants include: Vincristine, a chemotherapeutic drug which improved long-term survival rates for childhood leukemia to more than 90%; Vinblastine, which helps cure many cases of Hodgkins Disease; and Digitalis, used to treat chronic heart failure. 
  
  

• Need to increase support at the National Institutes of Health for studies of medicinal plants basic mechanisms of action.  Adequate support among all institutes and centers of the NIH (including the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the Office of Dietary Supplements) is critical to the promotion and funding of the highest quality research in herbal medicine so that urgent consumer and patient needs of this neglected area of biological research will be met.  Increased support for evidenced-based research on herbal therapies will help promote the highest quality innovative research to evaluate herbal therapies.