Medicinal plants abound in nature. Since most of them are available and easily accessible, these medicines are more affordable compared to synthetic drugs.
In growing herbal and medicinal plants, there should be no heavy metals, pesticide residues and high microbial count in the soil. The airways must be from road heavily traversed by motorized vehicle. The airway must also be from farms using pesticides. The water must be free from microorganisms and pesticides. Use only a reliable and clean water source for the herbal and medicinal plants.
Before drying, the medicinal plants must undergo some tests to be sure that the moisture content of dried materials is <10%. The dried materials must not be moldy, without other pests, stones, and soil particles. Microbial count and heavy metals are within allowable amounts. Poisonous microorganisms are absent. No pesticide residues efficacy is almost like the standards.
The microbial test requirements are the following:
Standard plate count = 10 cfu/g
Coliform plate count = <10 cfu/g
Molds and yeasts plate count = <10 cfu/g
E. coli = negative
Salmonella = negative
Staphylococcus aureus = negative
Heavy metals in the dried materials are as follows:
Allowed Amount
Lead (Pb) 10.0 ppm
Cadmium (Cd) 0.3 ppm
Chromium (Cr) 10.0 ppm
Argon (Ar) 3.0 ppm
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History and Medicine in the Philippines
No FicciónBefore the Philippines were colonized by foreign countries, Filipinos have Babaylan who is equally ranked to the status of a chieftain (Datu). The Babaylan guided her people with her knowledge in food, animals, clothing, medicine and other ways of l...