ABSTRACT
Herbal medicines have been used for the treatment of diseases for many thousands of years and are recognized as valuable, readily available resources for health care. According to the World Health Organization, over 70%–80% of the world's population living in rural areas relies on non-conventional medicine for the treatment of their ailments. Pesticide residues are any specified substance in food, agricultural commodities or animal feed resulting from the use of a pesticide. Pesticides used for protection from certain insects are finally transported to the human body by different routes. Medicinal plants can accumulate heavy metals when grown on polluted environmental media, such as roadsides and metal mining and smelting operations. Pollution present in the environment such as heavy metals, pesticides, radioactive particles, mycotoxins, and microbes including pathogens, can cause serious problems for the quality of herbal and herbal drugs.
