Abstract
The estimated value of the worldwide sales of plant-based medicines exceeds $15 billion in the year 2004. The international trade of plant-based medicines is becoming a major strength in the global economy and the demand is increasing in both developing and industrialized nations. However, the explosive growth of the trade of plant-based medicines has been accompanied by issues of quality, consistency and efficacy and leading to serious health problems associated with traditional field-grown plants or wild-harvest. This article discusses the problems associated with the cultivation, harvesting and process of medicinal plants for the production of phyto-pharmaceuticals. We suggest that it is necessary to ensure the safety and efficacy of plant-based medicines and to protect the genetic diversity of medicinal plants. An alternative is the cultivation of medicinal plants under controlled environments, which allows the precise control of optimized environmental conditions with maximum biomass and medicinal metabolites production and ensures the plants free from biotic and abiotic contaminations with consistent biochemical profiles. The controlled environment technology also ensures application of specific, controlled environment stresses that can optimize the production of medicinal metabolites by inducing natural biochemical changes in plants.
