2011 ASHS Annual Conference

September 23 - 30, 2011

Medicinal plants have been used as natural medicines since prehistoric times. Currently, the worldwide trade of plant-based medicines and herbal supplements has exceeded $15 billion and is becoming a major force in the global economy. The explosive growth of the consumption of plant-based medicines has led to many scientists in various academic institutes throughout the world working on identification of medicinal plants and their values, cultivation and breeding, and application of genomics and biotechnologies to improve the quality of plant-based medicines and herbal supplements.  However, the rapid growth of plant-based medicines and herbal supplements has been accompanied by a number of concerns: biotic and abiotic contamination, adulteration with misidentified plant species, and quality variability of medicinal plant products, which is possibly caused by genetic variability, variable growing conditions, and postharvest handling and processing practices. This colloquium will address the aforementioned concerns and facilitate discussion on the needs for developing new technologies to ensure the safety and efficacy of the plant-based medicine.