Abstract
Author(s): TS.Sandozi Tasneem*
Herbs have been used for medicinal purposes since long. Majority of our people have a feeling that herbs are harmless plants although many of our drugs (including digitalis, morphine, atropine, and several chemotherapeutic agents) were developed from plants. Hence, herbs can be potent products.The last few years has seen the emergence of several types of alternative medicine providers (such as Naturopaths) joining the doctors prescribing allopathic medicine. In almost all countries the herbal and other dietary supplements do not have to meet the same standards as of allopathic drugs. There is no pharmacopoeia for these herbal preparations either. Under such situations safety becomes a big concern due to unpredictable drug-herb interactions. A number of people use herbal products for preventive and therapeutic purposes but they do not tell their doctors they are taking herbal remedies and this can create confusion if drug-herb interactionsdevelop.