Herbal medicine practitioners urged to document procedures, ingredients

Mrs Phebean Malomo-Odu, a Deputy Director in NAFDAC, made the appeal yesterday when she spoke with newsmen in Onitsha, Anambra State. Malomo-Odu is in-charge of Herbal and Neutriceutical Division of Drug Evaluation and Research of the agency.
 She said doing so “would help NAFDAC and people within the localities to easily imbibe the habit of knowing what roots and herbs around them can do’’.
The deputy director said this would encourage generational knowledge transfer and safer health for the upcoming generations. Malomo-Odu said herbal medicines of some countries have attained international recognition and acceptance.
“While some Nigerians spend hard currency to purchase these herbal drugs, they forget that we also have some of these herbs and roots around us here wasting. So, it is time we start getting it right by our herbal practitioners being more open, especially with documenting and proper labelling of different herbs and roots,’’ she said. (NAN)