Plants provide most of the world's medicines and, for some populations, they are the only available therapeutic agents. Acceptance of herbal medicines in the U.S., however, only now is becoming widespread. This changing view toward botanical remedies has fostered a dramatic increase in their use. One third of the U.S. population spends at least $3.5 billion on herbal medicines each year (Canedy 1998, Dodson 1887, Tyler 1996). Use of plant medicines by English speakers in the U.S. increased 380% from 1990 to 1997 (Eisenberg et al. 1998). Herbal remedies always have enjoyed wide acceptance within ethnic communities. Southern Florida has an especially rich cultural mix and corresponding diversity of herbal healing traditions. Yet little data is available on plant medicines used in this region. Physicians increasingly are aware of the importance of traditional remedies, partly because of demands for information from their patients. The mainstream medical community also has expressed concern for interactions between herbal remedies and pharmaceuticals (Eisenberg et al. 1998, Jonas 1998). While there is a growing body on many herbal medicines, little is applicable to southern Florida' electric and tropical pharmacopoeia. This proposed study would survey the use of herbal remedies in southern Florida. The objectives are to: 1. Identify the widely prescribed herbal remedies used by ethnic communities in southern Florida, and 2, To compile scientific data on their toxicity. The goal is not to promote the use of phytomedicines, rather it is to document the use and identify of plant remedies and to provide this information data to the public and medical community. The study will use ethnobotanical methods to identify herbal remedies and their botanical sources and literature and database reviews to provide toxicological pharmacological, and chemical data. Bioassays will provide additional data on pharmacological activity and toxicity. The study is modeled that TRAMIL (Traditional Medicines in the Islands), which documented and use of herbal remedies in the Caribbean (Robineau and Soejarto 1996).
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