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The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), the leading trade association in the United States dealing with herbal products, and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP), a leading nonprofit herbal research organization dealing with setting and publishing standards for quality control of herbal materials, have released a draft document that is intended to provide guidance to growers and collectors of herbs used in consumer products. The 39-page document, titled Good Agricultural and Collection Practice for Herbal Raw Materials (GACP), provides guidelines to help ensure that herbal raw materials are accurately identified and not adulterated with contaminants, are in full conformity with all of the quality characteristics for which they are represented, and are cultivated and harvested in a manner that is environmentally sustainable.1
According to an AHPA press release, the GACP has relevance to herbal raw materials in all herbal products-including foods, dietary supplements, drugs, and cosmetics-and is applicable to both large and small herbal raw material producers and to both producers who collect their herbs through cultivation and wild harvesting.2 The GACP is presented as a draft to invite discussion, review, and comments, especially by farmers and collectors who use the draft’s guidelines in their facilities and operations. There is no deadline for submitting comments, and the GACP may be periodically revised in light of feedback received through this review process. AHPA and AHP also intend to develop a companion to the GACP draft, by providing worksheets and checklists to assist farmers and collectors in implementing the guidance provided by the GACP.1
The draft document is divided into 5 sections. The first section, which focuses on good agricultural practices (GAPs), provides guidelines on propagation materials, site selection, crop fertilization, irrigation, crop protection and maintenance, and harvesting. The second section, on good collection practices, contains information on permits for collection, site selection, collection equipment, identification, sustainable harvesting, and timing and handling of harvests. A section on post-harvest handling includes guidance on handling of herbal materials during and after harvest, facilities, equipment, cleaning, special preparations, dehydration, cutting and milling, packaging and storage, and shipping. The remaining 2 sections focus on personnel issues and record-keeping and retention samples.
Previously, the World Health Organization (WHO) also published a GACP document, titled WHO Guidelines on Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for Medicinal Plants, in 2003.3 This 80-page document also provides general technical guidance on obtaining plant materials of good quality for the sustainable production of herbal medicinal products. The main objectives of WHO’s GACP document are to contribute to the quality assurance of medicinal plant materials for herbal medicines, guide the formation of national and/or regional GACP guidelines and GACP monographs, and encourage and support the sustainable cultivation and collection of medicinal plants in the interest of conservation.
The authors of the AHPA and AHP GACP draft document claim in the Introduction that, “Even though organizations in other countries have developed good agricultural and collection practice guidelines in the last several years, AHPA and AHP have identified the need for a document that considers the specific nature of doing business in the United States.”1 According to its Introduction, the AHPA and AHP draft document on GACP may be useful in any country, but it is limited to rules in the United States when it addresses regulatory issues.
The AHP-AHPA GACP document is available online at http://www.ahpa.org/portals/0/pdfs/06_1208_AHPA-AHP_GACP.pdf and at http://www.herbal-ahp.org/06_1208_AHPA-AHP_GACP.pdf. Reviewers who wish to comment on how the GACP applies to their own herbal operations may submit feedback to AHPA by email at ahpa@ahpa.org or by mail to American Herbal Products Association, 8484 Georgia Ave. #370, Silver Spring, MD, 20910.
-Courtney Cavaliere
References
1. AHPA, AHP. Good Agricultural and Collection Practice for Herbal Raw Materials. December 2006. Available at: http://www.herbal-ahp.org/06_1208_AHPA-AHP_GACP.pdf. Accessed January 5, 2007.
2. Good Agricultural and Collection Practice Draft Now Available for Comment. December 8, 2006. AHPA Update page. American Herbal Products Association Web site. Available at: http://www.ahpa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=69&aId=333&zId=16. Accessed January 4, 2007.
3. WHO. WHO Guidelines on Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for Medicinal Plants. 2003. Available at: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2003/9241546271.pdf. Accessed January 5, 2007.
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