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The main issue for the future of herbal medicine is whether medicinal plants, and the traditional knowledge that informs their use, will be valued for what they are, an immense resource of safe, economical, ecologically balanced medicines-or whether
there will be yet another area of life to be exploited for short-term profit.
Another issue is convincing skeptics in the medical world that herbal medicines are not just a poor substitute but also a treatment in its own right. For e.g. In trials into the effect of certain Chinese herbs on patients with eczema at London`s Royal Free Hospital in the
early 1990s, conventional specialists were astonished when the addition of one extra herb to a Chinese formula containing 10 others resulted in a dramatic improvement in a previously unresponsive patient. This story offers evidence of the skill and art involved in herbal practice.
In tailoring the remedy to suit the individual cause, major improvements were made. This kind of approach is a far cry from the standard medical view of using a single drug to treat a single disease.
In India and China, university have courses in herbal medicine for decades. In the West this process was slower. The first undergraduate course was started in Middlesex University in London in 1994.
Despite regional variations, European herbal practices largely arose from the common root of the classical tradition. Today, herbalism is increasingly popular in Europe.
The discovery of the medicinal value of foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is another case where traditional herbal knowledge led to a major advance in medicine.
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