Medicinal Plant News Service Releases Fifth Edition

Medicinal Plant News Service Releases Fifth Edition

GENEVA--Market News Service (MNS), part of theInternational Trade Centre, published the fifth edition of its newsletter onmedicinal plants and extracts in December. The newsletter covers regionalreviews about the primary producing and consuming areas, including NorthAmerica, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, China, Japan and India. Among thecoverage for each section are regional demand, indicative raw material prices,product profiles and upcoming trade fairs. This edition also includes severalspecial features, such as a technical profile on ashwagandha root, a regionalfocus on Australia and regulatory highlights about the Bioterrorism Act.

In particular, MNS explored how the Bioterrorism Act will affectU.S. imports of botanical raw materials. After the regulations are enacted inDecember, raw materials from unregistered foreign facilities will be detained atthe U.S. border until the facility is registered. The Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) will require prior notification of imported shipments ofbotanicals, including a product description, manufacturer name, grower name,country of origin and port of entry. The update notes the American HerbalProducts Association (AHPA) formed the Herbal Importation Working Group toassist companies with the regulations; more information on the group can befound at www.ahpa.org.

For more details or to subscribe to the newsletter, visit www.intracen.org/mns.