Trade of medicinal plants in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Herbal drugs have always fascinated the majority cite population. According to WHO, the global market of the medicinal herbs and herbal-products is about LIS S 62 billion and will hit the market by the Year-MIN at the level of US $ 5 trillion. Pakistan has distinct diminical regions" with varied medicinal flora. Pakistan Int got more than 4000 different plant species and out of them 1,100 has been pointed out to be medicinal in nature but only 350-456 plant species have entered into bulk herbal manufacturing and raw material market. Controversy still exists in many cases regarding their authenticity, source of procurement, etc. This is mostly because of the drug trade, which has slipped into the hands of inexperienced, non-professional middlemen and traders. This has resulted into the commerce of adulterated, spurious and sub-standard crude drugs. Indeed, better quality; pharmacologically active drugs can only be manufactured when the available material is properly authenticated. There is also urgent need to improve post harvest processing, storage and effective quality control and regulate the commerce in order to make a significant dent in the world market