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HerbalEGram: Volume 6, Number 5, May 2009
AHPA Honors 2009 Award Recipients
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The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), a national trade association that promotes the responsible commerce of herbal products, presented its annual awards on March 5.1 The award recipients were honored during the association’s annual member meeting in Anaheim, CA, which was concurrently held with Natural Products Expo West.
AHPA’s Herbal Hero award went to Gordon Walker, the general counsel of Nature’s Way, a manufacturer of a vitamin, mineral, and herbal products line since 1968, and now part of Schwabe North America. This award is given to outstanding contributors to AHPA committees and initiatives. Walker has served on AHPA’s Board of Trustees since 2001 and is currently the chair of its International Committee. According to an AHPA press release, Walker exhibits a grounded presence, offers thoughtful comments, and practices an unhesitating willingness to contribute.
“I feel very honored to have been chosen to receive the Herbal Hero award,” said Walker (e-mail, March 18, 2009). “AHPA is a great organization that provides significant benefits to the herbal products industry and I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute my time and knowledge to help benefit the AHPA members and to further the growth of the industry.”
Canadian Naturopathic doctor Phillip Waddington received AHPA’s Herbal Insight award, which is given to those who have furthered the knowledge and understanding of medicinal and aromatic plants. From 2000 to 2008 Waddington was director general of Health Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate, which is the regulating authority for the category of natural health products (NHPs, e.g., vitamins, minerals, herbs, homeopathic remedies) in Canada.2 He also presided over the creation of Canada’s Natural Health Products Regulations, which established requirements for the manufacture, packaging, labeling, storage, importation, distribution, and sale of NHPs, as well as human clinical trials.3 According to AHPA, these regulations are considered by many to be the most intelligent and progressive of modern-day approaches to medicinal herbal product regulations.1
The Herbal Industry Leader award was given to Sabinsa Corporation, which AHPA said has consistently exemplified the ideal best practices in the herbal ingredients community. Founded in 1988 by Muhammed Majeed, PhD, Sabinsa is based on the modern application of standardized phytonutrient ingredients and manufactures and supplies botanical extracts, natural plant-derived chemicals, and organic intermediates.4 Sabinsa has its extraction facilities throughout India and marketing offices in the United States (New Jersey and Utah), Australia, Europe, China, Japan, and South Africa.
AHPA President Michael McGuffin presented the award to Sabinsa, saying the company moves the industry above and beyond normal business practices and works to further legitimize the herbal product industry through research, intellectual property development, innovation, and clinical study sponsorship.5
“[Receiving the award] was certainly a proud moment, for several reasons,” said Shaheen Majeed, Sabinsa’s marketing director who was also elected to AHPA’s board of directors at the meeting (e-mail, March 23, 2009). “It’s a great recognition, but more importantly it’s a great recognition by AHPA—an industry-leading association that supports responsible commerce for herbal products. I felt extremely ecstatic for our employees worldwide as well. This is truly something for them to be proud of. Being noted as a leader means we have more responsibility to uphold and we look forward to doing just that. To me personally, I grew up with Sabinsa, as this is my father’s company, and I felt extremely happy for him.”
McGuffin praised all award recipients in the AHPA press release. “Each honoree is committed to excellence and understands that continual industry growth depends on the individual actions and decisions made by members of our business community.”1
—Lindsay Stafford
References
1. 2009 AHPA awards honor herbal leaders [press release]. Silver Spring, MD. American Herbal Products Association. March 11, 2009.
2. About Health Canada: Natural Health Products Directorate. Health Canada Web site. Available at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/branch-dirgen/hpfb-dgpsa/nhpd-dpsn/index-eng.php. Accessed March 18, 2009.
3. Drugs and Health Products: Acts and Regulations. Health Canada Web site. Available at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodnatur/legislation/acts-lois/index-eng.php. Accessed March 18, 2009.
4. Sabinsa story. Sabinsa Corporation Web site. Available at: http://www.sabinsa.com/sstory.htm. Accessed March 18, 2009.
5. Sabinsa named 2009 Herbal Industry Leader by AHPA [press release]. Sabinsa Corporation. March 16, 2009. Available at: http://www.sabinsa.com/nr160309.html. Accessed March 18, 2009.
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