James Meikle, health correspondent

Tuesday August 14, 2001

The Guardian

Herbal remedies used for centuries to treat serious diseases and minor ailments are becoming endangered species, as consumer fads and a hankering for alternative medications help to rob the planet of some of its oldest cures.

Now conservationists are fighting back, trying to alert shoppers to the environmental consequences of seizing medicinal plants from the wild, possibly through ecolabelling such as that for timber products, and kick-starting a "grow our own" movement in Britain to help reduce the strain on overseas sources.

The lavender still grown in north Norfolk is a reminder of sources that have disappeared, such as liqourice in Yorkshire. Now tentative steps are being made, with government support, to go further. Ginseng is being grown in Nottinghamshire, echinacea in Kent, and rosemary in Oxfordshire.

An estimated 80% of the ?50m a year trade in Britain in medicinal, culinary and cosmetic herbs may be imported. And the supply of some, especially those where the roots hold the secrets and the plants take years to grow, may dry up completely.

Plants from North America, India, China and Europe, particulary around the edges of the former communist bloc, are at risk.

Sue Minter is curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden, London, founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothecaries, and now a charitable research and education body.

She is blunt. "We have to raise consumer awareness. People are not aware so much is taken from the wild when so much more could be grown [cultivated commercially].

"The Chinese have a tradition of growing their own (they grow gingko on a huge plantation scale), but they are having great trouble keeping up with demand.

"You could grow gingko here. There are other fad plants, like echinacea from north America, which could be grown here.

"Other plants that are difficult to cultivate will probbaly disappear, and herbalists will be forced to use alternatives. Then you get potential for poisoning."

She concedes that problems started many years ago. "In the 1930s and 1940s there was such demand for Chinese ginseng that people turned to American ginseng in the Appalachians, so there is almost no wild ginseng left - although it is cultivated.

"I think you are talking about supply problems with some north American plants that are difficult to cultivate, and will probably disappear."

Matters are getting worse. Some herbs are protected, but with local people being able to collect them from the wild for sale under special licences; Ms Minter concedes there would be difficulties in taking away livelihoods from already poor populations. "But this [practice] has to be done in a fully sustainable way."

Two years ago, she checked the catalogue of one of the few British commercial herb suppliers to list sources of supply; 62% of ingredients came from cultivated sources, 7.5% were "wild crafted" with an element of sustainability, and 30% were wild-collected with no information on sustainability.

The herbal remedy trade alone may be worth over ?00m a year, and as many as one in four Britons may buy such products, with some estimates putting growth at 10% a year.

The charity Plantlife, WWF-UK and the Herbal Apothecary company are about to survey the industry in Britain on the problems, and tentative talks are under way on establishing codes of practice, and on providing greater support for projects that help communities in developing countries.

Traffic International, the wildlife trade monitoring group, believes that at least 150 medicinal plants native to Europe are at risk in the wild.

Alan Hamilton, head of the international plant conservation unit at WWF-UK, agrees it is time to raise public concern.

At the National Herb Centre at Warmington, Oxfordshire, the director, Rosemary Cole, is worried about both the quality and the supply of some imports.

The Prince of Wales, a champion of such medicines, has made land available on his farm at Highgrove, Gloucestershire, to help boost production of medicinal plants, so that fewer are torn from the wild abroad.

Wild ways to root out illness

Echinacea purpurea Roots once used against snakebite by native Americans. Now a treatment for catarrh, colds and minor infections. Now cultivated.

Goldenseal From woodlands of US's eastern seaboard. Now used for similar purposes as echinacea. Difficult to cultivate because of time to grow.

American ginseng Appalachian root subsituted for Chinese equivalent in the 1930s and 40s. Used as tonic. Very little left in wild, endangered and trade restricted, but farmed in large quantities in parts of US.

Podophyllum hexandrum Grown in Himalayas and used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine against worms and constipation.

Yellow gentian Bitter tonic for dyspepsia and jaundice in montane Europe. Now threatened.

Gingko biloba Chinese and Japanese "maidenhair tree" whose seeds once treated TB. Very tough survivor on urban streets, and first tree to grow after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Leaves often used to treat circulatory problems and to improve memory.

Panax ginseng Wild populations at risk in Russian Federation as demand grows for treatments for stress.

Bogbean Increasingly rare in wild in Britain, particularly in the south. Used to treat arthritic conditions and once popular against scurvy and skin diseases.

Liquorice At risk in wild in Europe with tradition of reducing hoarseness, constipation, heartburn, indigestion, stomach ulcers and age spots.

　　From Guardian.co.uk