ABSTRACT
Over the past decade the sale of botanical dietary supplements, also known as herbal medicinal products, has increased dramatically worldwide (Eisenberg et al., 1998; Mahady, 1998, 2001; Tyler, 1999). In the United States, annual retail sales of botanical products rose from a meagre $200 million in 1988 (Mahady, 1999), to an estimated $5.1 billion in 1997, and consumer use of these products has increased dramatically (Eisenberg et al., 1998). In Europe, the herbal medicinal products market is estimated at $3.8 billion. In developing countries such as in Africa, China and India, botanicals have always played a central role in healthcare. Data from the World Health Organization suggest that 65 to 80 per cent of the populations in these countries depend on traditional medicine as the primary source of healthcare (Bennerman et al., 1983). Conservatively, the total global market for these products is of the order of $25 billion (Mahady, 2001).
