Abstract
Herbal medicines are used by about 80% of the populations in Africa. Despite being the main management strategy for a number of medical conditions, few studies have been done to suggest their toxicity and efficacy. Moreover, herbal medicines are not prescriptive. Users commonly find information from relatives, and friends. The classification of plant herbal medicines as complementary and alternative medicines also remains to be recognised as nutritional products. This therefore presents a special bioethical challenge in both research and practice for both researchers and medical physicians. Research on herbal medicines also demonstrates the lack of consistency in repeatability and reproducibility of their findings. Some studies have also established efficacy while others demonstrate otherwise. Variation in their findings has been attributed to variations in geographical locations of sources of plant materials and soil diversity. Moreover, ethical consideration in research may not have the appropriate social value, validity in research, risk benefit ratio and collaborations required for ethical sustainability. This may be as a result of the different cultures and traditions in the use of plant materials among different communities. In addition, ethical principles such as beneficence and no malfeasance may not be sustainable for all the medical physicians using plant herbal medicines in the management diseases in patients. The patient autonomy is also not valid table from the existing toxicity and safety studies. More research on bioethics is needed to bridge the gap between ethics, research and practice for herbal medicines.
Highlights
It is common practice that most of the dietary supplements are produced in mass, released to the market and sold without the need to conduct the safety and efficacy just like the common pharmaceutical drugs
FDA is charged with the responsibility of providing evidence that the dietary supplements are not fit for human consumption before they can be removed from the market
This is a contravention of the conventional practice for pharmaceutical products for which evidence of safety and efficacy is first generated for approval is granted for production, release to market and marketing [1]
Summary
It is common practice that most of the dietary supplements are produced in mass, released to the market and sold without the need to conduct the safety and efficacy just like the common pharmaceutical drugs. Research findings have been able to show that plant variation in the concentration of active compounds with pharmacological activities in products such as ginseng for gingsenosides and eleuthrosides [2] This raises questions on the precision and certainty of the phytonutrients components of the products released in the market as supplements. Structure activity relations and functions claims have been widely made in the prevention of most health cases such as support for the natural defences of the body In this case, it subjects the uses to very thin line of safety, efficacy and regulatory protection frameworks. This can be suggested to go against the theory and practice of the need for ethics on matters of protecting human life
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