WHO Guidelines on Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for Medicinal Plants: Annex 2. Points to Consider on Good Agricultural and Collection Practice for Starting Materials of Herbal Origin: 2. General

WHO Guidelines on Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for Medicinal Plants
(2003; 80 pages) [French] [Spanish]

Table des matières

Acknowledgements
Foreword
1. General introduction
	1.1. Background
	1.2. Objectives
	1.3. Structure
	1.4. Glossary
		1.4.1. Terms relating to herbal medicines:
		1.4.2. Terms relating to medicinal plant cultivation and collection activities:
2. Good agricultural practices for medicinal plants
	2.1. Identification/authentication of cultivated medicinal plants
		2.1.1. Selection of medicinal plants
		2.1.2. Botanical identity
		2.1.3. Specimens
	2.2. Seeds and other propagation materials
	2.3. Cultivation
		2.3.1. Site selection
		2.3.2. Ecological environment and social impact
		2.3.3. Climate
		2.3.4. Soil
		2.3.5. Irrigation and drainage
		2.3.6. Plant maintenance and protection
	2.4. Harvest
	2.5. Personnel
3. Good collection practices for medicinal plants
	3.1. Permission to collect
	3.2. Technical planning
	3.3. Selection of medicinal plants for collection
	3.4. Collection
	3.5. Personnel
4. Common technical aspects of good agricultural practices for medicinal plants and good collection practices for medicinal plants
	4.1. Post-harvest processing
		4.1.1. Inspection and sorting
		4.1.2. Primary processing
		4.1.3. Drying
		4.1.4. Specific processing
		4.1.5. Processing facilities
	4.2. Bulk packaging and labelling
	4.3. Storage and transportation
	4.4. Equipment
		4.4.1. Materials
		4.4.2. Design, construction and installation
		4.4.3. Identification
	4.5. Quality assurance
	4.6. Documentation
	4.7. Personnel (growers, collectors, producers, handlers, processors)
		4.7.1. General
		4.7.2. Health, hygiene and sanitation
5. Other relevant issues
	5.1. Ethical and legal considerations
		5.1.1. Intellectual property rights and benefits-sharing
		5.1.2. Threatened and endangered species
	5.2. Research needs
Bibliography
Annex 1. Good Agricultural Practice for Traditional Chinese Medicinal Materials, People's Republic of China
Annex 2. Points to Consider on Good Agricultural and Collection Practice for Starting Materials of Herbal Origin
	1. Introduction
	2. General
	3. Quality assurance
	4. Personnel and education
	5. Building and facilities
	6. Equipment
	7. Documentation
	8. Seeds and propagation material
	9. Cultivation
	10. Collection
	11. Harvest
	12. Primary processing
	13. Packaging
	14. Storage and distribution
	Glossary
Annex 3. Good Agricultural and Collection Practices for Medicinal Plants (GACP), Japan
Annex 4. A model structure for monographs on good agricultural practices for specific medicinal plants
Annex 5. Sample record for cultivated medicinal plants
Annex 6. Participants in the WHO Consultation on Good Agricultural and Field Collection Practices for Medicinal Plants

2. General

2.1 This "Points to Consider" document is intended to address the specific concerns of growing, collecting and primary processing of medicinal plants/herbal drugs that are used for medicinal purposes. It addresses specific issues associated with agricultural production and collection of medicinal plants/herbal drugs in the wild. These considerations should be read in connection with GMP guidelines for APIs and should apply to all methods of production including organic production in accordance with regional and/or national regulations. These provide additional standards for the production and processing of medicinal plants/herbal drugs insofar as they mainly focus on identifying those critical production steps that are needed to ensure good quality.

2.2 The main aim is to ensure consumer safety by establishing appropriate quality standards for medicinal plants/herbal drugs. Especially important aspects are that medicinal plants/herbal drugs:

- are produced hygienically, in order to reduce microbiological load to a minimum,

- are handled with care so that medicinal plants/herbal drugs are not adversely affected during collection, cultivation, processing and storage.

During the course of the production process medicinal plants/herbal drugs and their preparations are exposed to a large number of microbiological and other contaminants. This "Points to Consider" provides recommendations for producers to reduce contamination to a minimum.

2.3 These "Points to Consider" are intended for all participants from primary producers to traders and processors. Therefore, producers, traders and processors of medicinal plants/herbal drugs should comply with these considerations, document all relevant activities in batch documentation and demand that their partners do likewise, unless it can be justified otherwise.

Growers and collectors of medicinal plants/herbal drugs must insure that they avoid damage to existing wildlife habitats. CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora) must be adhered to.