Xenobiotics in Traditional Medicine Practices and Quality Control Strategies

Traditional medicine has been recognized globally as an effective tool for managing an array of ailments that confront humanity. Before the advances in sciences that revolutionized the pharmaceutical industry, ancient civilizations were dependent on herbal preparations for their therapeutic needs and occasionally even prophylaxis demands. The applications of Chinese medicine, for instance till date speak volumes to the therapeutic potentials of carefully crafted traditional medical practices. However, the pollution of agricultural fields owing to indiscriminate applications of agrochemicals has led to contamination of soils, water, air, and wildlife creating a vicious cycle of xenobiotics in the environment. Since herbal plants do not grow in isolation, they are often polluted with heavy loads of trace organic and inorganic pollutants circulating in the environment. The concentration of which may be dependent on the source of the plant, geographical location, proximity to source contaminants release point, topography of the area, flooding, industrial activities, and discharges, among other factors. Xenobiotics of unknown toxicity may be taken in especially by rural dwellers who depend largely on herbal preparations for their pharmaceutical needs. Since these preparations are not administered at scientifically determined doses, they constitute a considerable source of exposure to pollutants with associated adverse health effects and even death. This chapter reviews the state of pollutants in herbal preparations, their sources and potential threats on consumers as recently reported in the literature. It highlights quality control measures as a necessary approach to minimize the menace of xenobiotics contamination of herbal medicinal products. It concludes by proffering viable measures to arrest the presence of contaminants in herbal products. These measures, when taken, would hopefully increase the quality of herbal preparations and increase optimal utility while minimizing the hazardous effects arising from the presence of contaminants. From pleasure-seekers in sexual enhancers to weight-loss products for the obese to chronic medical conditions and microbial infections, botanicals have remained a regular companion in several homes on both sides of the rural-urban divides.