Research needed to tap Indonesia's medicinal plants: LIPI

Research needed to tap Indonesia's medicinal plants: LIPI

JAKARTA (JP): More research must be conducted if Indonesia is
to tap the rich variety of its medicinal plants and encourage
wider acceptance of traditional medicines.

"Eighty percent of the world's population still depends on
traditional medicine," said Dedy Karnaedi, director of the Bogor
Botanical Gardens, part of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(LIPI), at the opening of a seminar on traditional medicines on
Monday.

Indonesia is rich in botanical variety, and 9,000 of the
country's 25,000 recorded species of plants are known to have
curative properties.

Dedy quoted data from the International Trade Center that
tapak dara (Catharanthus roseus) and pule pandak (Rauvolfia
serpentina) are highly sought after by the world's pharmaceutical
industries.

Dedy was quoted by Republika as saying Indonesia has a rich
legacy from its diverse regions, where people use the medicinal
plants as traditional treatments.

Unfortunately, Dedy said, reckless forest clearing and over-
exploitation of medicinal plants have endangered the existence of
some species, including padma (raflesia zollingeri), purwoceng
(Pimpinella pruatjan), paku simpai (Cibotium barometz) and tali
kuning (Arcangelisia flava).

Sudarto Pringgoutomo, a doctor at Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital, told The Jakarta Post by phone that he strongly
supported the use of medicinal plants. He emphasized, however,
the need for medicine manufacturers to abide by the drug
production standards (CPOB) and ensure proper hygiene in the
process.

The Ministry of Health, he said, should play an active role in
monitoring every phase of production of traditional medicines,
from selecting ingredients to packaging.

He also urged manufacturers to inform consumers of the
benefits of their drugs as well as the appropriate dosages. He
criticized the widely held view that medicines made from natural
ingredients could be taken without prescription.

"An excessive amount of any medicine is poisonous in nature,"
he said, adding that some of them are available in the form of
capsules and tablets like other modern drugs.

Medicinal plants are mostly processed by individual herbal
concoction manufacturers and the consumers are mostly people in
lower income brackets.

Republika reported on Wednesday that LIPI awarded Ahmad
Fauzie, a resident in the West Java regency of Cianjur, for his
work in preserving jerpaya, a rare plant species.

Jerpaya or citrus medica reportedly has specific curative
properties of about 100 different drugs.

Meanwhile, a woman from the eastern Indonesian island of
Flores in East Nusa Tenggara has developed a small plantation to
grow medicinal plants that she claims can cure illnesses like
hepatitis, malaria, low blood pressure, tuberculosis, cough and
diabetes as well as curing alcoholism and smoking addiction.

Revocata, 64, a Catholic sister, told the Post last week that
she was growing the plants on a three-hectare property in
Kewapante village, about nine kilometers from Maumere, in Sikka
district. She said she processed the plants, backed by scientific
research, into a variety of medicines she sells mostly to poor
people.

She did not specify the names of the plants but said they were
selected because they were traditionally widely used by the
people of Flores.

Revocata said she planned to cooperate with a non-governmental
organization to produce her medicines on a larger scale and to
open a traditional medicine shop in Maumere market. (06/yac)