Based on a recent survey in the United States, the market for herbal medicine is growing. It is showed about 30% of Americans reach for natural compounds first when they don't feel well. Customers said they used the herbs instead of traditional over-the-counter drugs because they had fewer side effects or because they cost less money, according to the survey. The top-selling herbs included ginseng, garlic, St. John's Wort and gingko. In the United States, consumers spend nearly $5 billion per year on natural supplements. 88% of the world's population relies on plants for health care. Medicinal plants will become even more important in the future, since predictions show the world population will increase to 9 billion by 2050.

More and more big drug companies start selling herbal products. For example, companies like Bayer, Abbott Laboratories and American Home Products already are selling natural medicines for everything from pre-menstrual syndrome to high cholesterol.

The US National Institutes of Health set up a Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine in 1998 to "facilitate the evaluation of alternative medical treatment modalities" to determine their effectiveness. The agency will fund a total of $7.5 million for research into the use of herbal treatments.

Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to define its role in the herbal arena. The FDA did recently step in to prevent companies from marketing healthy snacks as herbal supplements, Brevoort said. They tried to sell everything from St. John's wort soup to ginseng breakfast cereal.

People called on scientists to do more clinical studies into the effectiveness of popular herbal medicines like ginseng and echinacea. Also, more efforts should be made to protect plant species from extinction.