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HerbalEGram: Volume 6, Number 4, April 2009
AHPA Seeks Donations for Completion
of Revised Botanical Safety Handbook
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The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), the leading trade association in North America dealing exclusively with herbs, has announced the forthcoming publication of its Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd edition, set to debut in late 2009. Publication of the new edition is being funded by the AHPA Foundation for Education & Research on Botanicals (AHPA-ERB Foundation). The 3-year-old foundation launched a Web site in February partly to streamline the process of donating to this book project.1,2
With an editorial committee comprised of some of the top North American experts in the herbal medicine and natural products fields—Tieraona Low Dog, MD; Roy Upton, RH; Mary Hardy, MD; Aviva Jill Romm, RH; David Winston, RH; Michael McGuffin; Daniel Gagnon, RH; Soaring Bear, PhD; Lyle Craker, PhD; and David Kroll, PhD—this new edition will include more authoritative information on herbal safety than is currently available in other books on the subject, according to APHA.
“Understanding the safety record of botanicals is important to all herbal products stakeholders, from industry to consumers,” said AHPA President Michael McGuffin (e-mail, March 26, 2009). “The Botanical Safety Handbook guides product labeling, assures and informs healthcare professionals, and is an excellent resource for consumer helpline professionals, consumers themselves, and many others involved in the health and herbal products industries.”
With the first edition published in 1997 covering about 550 herbs sold in commerce in the United States at the time, the new edition aims to include information on more than 600 species of plants in trade as ingredients or dietary supplements.1 In addition to thousands more citations (bringing the expected citation total to 60,000) it will also include information on botanicals not included in the first such as olive leaf (Olea europea), holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum, syn. O. sanctum), maca (Lepidium meyenii), hoodia (Hoodia gordonii), and pomegranate fruit (Punica granatum), according to Zoë Gardner, research editor of the BHS revision (e-mail March 19, 2009). Many of the additional herbs included in the revised edition were nominated by AHPA’s Chinese Herbal Products and Ayurvedic Products Committees.
According to Gardner, a convenient “quick reference” will also be available for each herb, summarizing information on drug interactions, side effects, pharmacological considerations, and safety in pregnancy and lactation. Each quick reference summary will then be followed by more detailed information on human, animal, and in vitro studies, as well as traditional knowledge on safety.
In the area of herb-drug interactions, human clinical experience, animal studies, and/or case reports of interactions will be reported along with an assessment of the clinical relevance of these interactions.
The book is intended for an audience of medical practitioners, health and natural food store staff, product manufacturers, nutritionists, regulators, and others with an interest in the safety of botanicals.
Information about the AHPA Foundation and how to make a donation to the Botanical Safety Handbook is available at www.ahpafoundation.org.
—Kelly Saxton Lindner
References
1. Herbs, Etc. pledges funds for Botanical Safety Handbook revision [press release]. Silver Spring, MD: American Herbal Products Association. July 3, 2007.
2. 600 Herbs. 60,000 Citations: support the Botanical Safety Handbook revision online at AHPAFoundation.org [press release]. Silver Spring, MD: American Herbal Products Association. February 18, 2009.
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