Is there Scientific Research on Botanical Medicine?
During the last 30-40 years that has been an explosion of research and information regarding plants as medicinal agents. There has also been a rapid development in the methodology and technology necessary to properly evaluate botanical medicines. Tremendous improvements in extraction and analytical techniques have allowed scientists to determine the exact quality and quantity of active ingredients in plants, which has led to precise standardization methods for plant preparations. These methods have also improved the farming, harvesting and processing of medicinal plants. Unfortunately, since a plant cannot be patented, little research is done on the medicinal effects of whole plants in North America where health care is dominated by pharmacological medicine. Instead, researchers tend to focus on the isolation of specific active components in order to develop or manufacture new drugs, which then can be patented. However, several European and Asian pharmaceutical firms began specializing
