E POSSIBILE VALUTARE IL PROFILO DI BENEFICIO-RISCHIO DELLE ERBE MEDICINALI?

Many case reports and a few reviews indicate that herbal medicines do have adverse effects, sometimes severe. The available information cannot but misrepresent the magnitude of the problem, since the system of spontaneous referral of side effects has many well known limitations. Furthermore, herbal toxicity may vary with the seasons, the parts of the plant used to produce the medicinal mixture, the possible presence of contaminants. Two things seem advisable at the moment: that doctors and lay people cease to consider 'natural' products as virtually devoided of side effects and that the legislators produce more stringent regulations for controlling the quality and the safety of medicinal herbs.