Herbalism Many of the pharmaceuticals currently available to physicians have a long history of use as herbal remedies, including opium, aspirin, digitalis, and quinine. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80 percent of the world's population presently uses herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care.

Herbal medicine is a major component in all traditional medicine systems, and a common element in Ayurvedic, homeopathic, naturopathic, traditional Chinese medicine, and Native American medicine. The use of, and search for, drugs and dietary supplements derived from plants have accelerated in recent years.

Pharmacologists, microbiologists, botanists, and natural-products chemists are combing the Earth for phytochemicals and leads that could be developed for treatment of various diseases. In fact, approximately 25% of modern drugs used in the United States have been derived from plants.

• Three quarters of plants that provide active ingredients for prescription drugs came to the attention of researchers because of their use in traditional medicine,

• Among the 120 active compounds currently isolated from the higher plants and widely used in modern medicine today,

• 75 percent show a positive correlation between their modern therapeutic use and the traditional use of the plants from which they are derived.