Herbal medicines are mixtures of more than one active ingredient. The multitude
of pharmacologically active compounds obviously increases the likelihood of
interactions taking place. Hence, the likelihood of herb–drug interactions is
theoretically higher than drug–drug interactions, if only because synthetic drugs
Like other so-called ‘parallel’ practices in medicine, traditional medicine
(TM) does not avoid criticism or even rejection. Nyika’s article
‘Ethical and Regulatory Issues Surrounding African Traditional Medicine
in the Context of HIV/AIDS’ looks at some of the issues from
a traditional Western ethical perspective and suggests that it should