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How are
herbs and drugs different?
Herbal drugs are extracts from a part
of the whole plant (e.g. leaves, roots, berries etc.) and contain hundreds,
perhaps thousands of plant constituents. The active constituents are balanced
within the plant and are made more (or less) powerful by the numerous other
substances present. Many of the pharmaceutical drugs used today are based on
plant constituents and, even
now,
when scientists are seeking new 'cures' for disease it is to the plant world
that they turn. They find, extract and then synthesise in the laboratory a
single active constituent from the plant (the active constituent is the part of
the plant that has a therapeutic value), this can then be manufactured on a
large scale.
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