Author(s): Tarannum Khanam, Mohd. Yasir, Nazish Siddiqui and Ghufran Ahmad

Abstract:
India is a mother of herbs for the development of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy and other natural herbs based health science. Herbal medicine plays an important role in the development of potent therapeutic agents. There is a belief of common man that herbal drugs are safe and free from side effects is false. Herbs contain many constituents and some of them are toxic, however the adverse effect of phyto therapeutic agents is less frequently compared with synthetic drug. The use of herbal medicinal products and supplements has increased tremendously over the past three decades with almost 80% of people worldwide relying on them. Since safety continues to be a major issue with the use of herbal remedies, safety is a fundamental principle in the provision of herbal medicines and herbal products for health care, and a critical component of quality control, so it is necessary to improve safety of herbal drugs by developing certain quality control parameters and by following WHO guidelines. Safety study of herbal drugs and food items are now mandatory as per WHO guidelines to prevent their toxicity likely to arise due to the toxic material they may absorb from the soil or from air. Plants are vulnerable to be contaminated with harmful ingredients, therefore the current study includes the determination of Aflatoxins, Heavy metals, Pesticidal residue, and Microbial load of Arand leaves (Ricinus communis Linn.) used as herbal drug. The findings showed that all the safety parameters were below the permissible limit as per WHO guidelines. Hence we can say that the drug Arand leaves is free from toxicity.

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