Assessment of Heavy Metal Accumulation in Medicinal Plants and Possible Remedial Measures

The use of herbal medicine is increasing dramatically worldwide. However, environmental pollution especially with heavy metals poses serious problem on quality of medicinal plants and their products. In most parts of the world including India, where more than 85% of the population relies on traditional medicine, data on the level of Ni, Co, Cu, Cr and As in plants used for production of herbal medicines is unavailable. Reports from many countries have shown that one of the major quality problems frequently encountered is high heavy metal contents of herbal medicines that can be associated to extensive pollution of the environment where medicinal plants used as raw materials grow. Evaluating and monitoring of heavy metal contamination is an essential step in improving the overall safety and quality of widely used medicinal plants which will in turn result in safeguarding the beneficiaries or consumers. In addition, these and other heavy metals are claimed to affect the secondary metabolites production in plants which may be important for medication. Therefore, it is mandatory to assess Ni, Co, Cu, Cr and As concentrations in medicinal plants before using them for herbal drugs preparation.