Toxicity of Herbal Medicines: From Past to Present to Future

Abstract

Herbal medicines were among the first remedies used by human beings for healing. Without any doubt, this use was also accompanied by the poisonous or toxic effects of plants. In order to improve chances of survival, in parallel, mankind increased its knowledge of the therapeutic uses and toxicity of herbal medicines. Individual experiences were extended to the systematic collection of all data related to the effects of plants and herbal medicines. Progress and development were initiated by spreading herbal medicines along the trade routes and the scientific demand for insight into toxic principles and their modes of action. Moreover, methodologies applied to the life sciences provided more and more efficient tools for researching the toxicology of herbal medicines. Toxicology has developed into a multi-disciplinary field with numerous sub-disciplines. Nevertheless, because herbal medicines are multi-component mixtures, it is still a major challenge to investigate their toxicity. Usually, available data never meet all requirements for perfect assessment; therefore, the evaluation of herbal medicines’ toxicity in regulatory frameworks is a matrix-based assessment that should ideally conclude with adequate recommendations for risk management.