These days there seems to be a desire for people to want everything to be more natural. There is a shunning of everything man made and manufactured with people thinking that if things are natural it means that they are more healthy. This probably explains why there has been such an increase in interest in herbal remedies. The fact that they have been used for centuries and they are taken from plants makes people feel that they must be safe and they must work.
With many modern medicines incorporating herbs then this would seem to make a lot of sense on the surface but it is worth thinking about it further. If these remedies were all so good why are we not using them all of the time. Many are being used in pharmaceuticals and they have been clinically proved to work and therefore are safe when administered by a doctor or when the instructions are carefully followed. It would seem to make sense to continue as we are, using the medicine we know work and continue testing for others.
However, with the way that herbal remedies are regulated, we could soon find that many more are hitting the shelves, especially in USA where they are treated as supplements. This could lead to many health claims being made by herbal medicine manufacturers and possibly a move from modern medicine back to more traditional methods. This is likely to be embraced by those who like the idea of living a more natural life but is worrying because they have not been proven. It is possible that safety problems with occur, especially if people decide to replace their modern medicines with off the shelf herbal remedies.
The strict EU rules indicate that this is something that they are already predicting and that is why they are making sure everything has been proved to be safe and effective and if more herbal remedies come on to the market then it could be that they make these rules even tighter to protect the EU residents.
It is less easy to predict what might happen in USA. If people start getting unwell and suing the manufacturers of herbal remedies then it is possible that they may start more rigorous testing. However, if the companies have cleverly worded their packaging then it is possible that no one will be able to sue them and so the market may continue to expand.
People tend to be looking for cures for illnesses. We seem to be leading more and more unhealthy lifestyles at the moment and so we are more likely to be getting unwell and therefore more likely to be needing health remedies. Hopefully there will be a turnaround soon and people will start to have healthier lifestyles without the need for so many remedies as they will not have so many ailments.
It is possible that in a few generations time, we will revert back to preferring man made over natural products and the sales of herbal remedies may decline. These sorts of things tend to go in cycles and it is possible that in a few generations time things will turn around from what they are now. Only time will tell.
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