Herbal industry hampered by lack of research

The lack of research into the efficiency and safety of local herbal products is hindering growth of the industry in Malaysia and globally.

In 2008, it is estimated that Malaysians would spend RM4.6 billion on herbal products, but the sum is dwarfed by the huge amount to be consumed overseas, that is a staggering RM266 billion.

The world expenditure on herbal products (supplements, patents for new drugs or cosmetics) is expected to breach RM52.5 trillion by year 2050.

“The question is not whether Malaysia can make money out of this but why aren’t we making more?” said Dr Daniel Baskaran K, a scientist at the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia.

“Sorry to say this, but it’s because of our ‘tidak apa’ attitude. Look at our backyard (forest), there’s so much out there but we still lack evidence to prove that our products are safe and efficient.

“You take a panadol and you know your headache will go away within 30 minutes. Can we make such a claim for our products?” he asked.

The scientist was speaking during a one-day ‘Convergence of biotechnology and biodiversity in wealth creation’ seminar yesterday.

The seminar, organised by the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) was held at its research facility within the Semenggok Forest Reserve.

Dr Daniel cited the relative failure of ‘Tongkat Ali’ to penetrate the world market.

The product was pushed for global consumption years back, but has steadily been removed from the list of safe consumable by various countries.

The irony, he added, was that between 60 and 80 per cent of Malaysians consulted ‘traditional’ health practitioners before seeing a doctor.

The local industry, meanwhile, produced various types of consumables from ginger and betel leaves (Indonesia). Ginger was mostly imported from India, said Dr Daniel.

“It seems like we have become so sophisticated that we don’t care,” Dr Daniel quipped.
On recurring international issues within the industry, the scientist cited “unharmonised regulations” and “inconsistent documentation”.

He highlighted India and China as the world’s largest exporters of medicinal herbs. “In India, about 70 per cent of modern medicine consumed are based on natural products,” he said.

Sales statistics in rich, developed countries are equally encouraging as close to 50 per cent of Germany’s population use herbal products while 60 per cent of our neighbours in Australia and New Zealand also use herbal products.

Such findings suggest that as world population grows older, and more educated, many people are seeking treatment with less perceived side-effects.

“The personal health industry is booming, underpinned by a growing preference for natural products versus synthetic.

“Functional foods, functional beverages, cosmeceuticals and organic products are much sought after,” said Dr Daniel.

In saying that production output in several neighbouring countries has seen high growth rate, Dr Daniel lamented that Malaysia was not even listed in a recent study.

Dr Daniel disagreed that foreign researches on “traditional herbs and knowledge” here do not benefit the locals financially.

He cited local research bodies like SBC which provided agreements to safeguard the interests of whom and where the information was gathered.

The mechanism has been put in place in Malaysia to ensure profitability is fair, he said.

He pointed to the second example where different segments of society had to play specialised roles — from fact gathering to marketing, and to research and development before a product could be successful.

SBC, which was formed in 1998, has in recent years been rather active in its “Traditional knowledge documentation” programme.

SBC communications department said yesterday that the programme had identified about 2,500 types of plant.

Between 1998 and 2004, the centre also signed 79 research agreements for general biodiversity researches.