Environmental Health Center

EnvironMinute Health Scripts

More and more people are turning to herbal remedies these days, but some plants are casualties of their own success. We'll offer sage advice on saving the goldenseal and ginseng on today's EnvironMinute. [:11]

Ginseng and goldenseal, aloe and arnica. Eighty percent of the world's population uses herbs like these to treat everything from depression to stomach aches. In America, people seeking alternatives to synthetic drugs and animal products are rediscovering herbs. But along with this popularity comes a problem: over-harvesting. Wild ginseng is worth three times more than cultivated, so it's often collected illegally. three quarters of wild goldenseal patches are also threatened. Cultivating medicinal plants is a more eco-friendly option than removing them from the wild. Public education and industry regulation may insure that nature's medicine cabinet doesn't go bare. [:37]

The EnvironMinute is produced in cooperation with the National Safety Council and made possible by the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation. [:10]

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