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American Botanical Council Enters 25th Year
(AUSTIN, Texas, October
31, 2012) On November 1, 2012,
the
nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) enters its 25th year of education and
research on the science-based health benefits of herbs, medicinal plants, and
other beneficial plant-based ingredients. The independent research and
education organization was established in 1988 by Founder and Executive
Director Mark Blumenthal, along with noted ethnobotanist James A. Duke, PhD,
and the renowned late pharmacognosist Professor Norman R. Farnsworth, PhD.
Remarking on the occasion, Dr. Duke said, “I
am pleased and proud to see ABC approaching that monumental 25-year
milestone. Nice work. It is so much bigger and better than I envisaged 24 years
ago, thanks to Mark, of course, and the dedicated staff.”
Blumenthal and Drs. Duke and Farnsworth came together to form ABC as a means of
supporting HerbalGram, the seminal
publication for which the nonprofit is most well-known. Since those first years
of ABC, HerbalGram has grown from a
grassroots newsletter into a full-fledged, peer-reviewed, quarterly scientific
journal. ABC’s 25th year will see HerbalGram celebrate 30 years of
publication, with the 100th issue going to print
in late 2013.
“ABC started as a means of supporting HerbalGram, which at that time was
a newsletter for many people in the disparate herbal community,” said
Blumenthal. “Now in our 25th year, HerbalGram has not only surpassed
all expectations in terms of quality, relevancy, and impact on the herbal
community internationally, but its success has allowed ABC to branch out and
create many new means of fulfilling our unique educational mission.”
The number of ABC-produced publications continues to increase. One that also will
celebrate a major milestone soon is HerbClip™, which turns 20 in
2013. For two decades, HerbClip has offered summaries and critical reviews of
seminal articles covering medicinal plant-related clinical research,
regulations, marketing information, and conservation and sustainability. HerbalEGram, the monthly e-newsletter
for ABC members, will enter its tenth year in 2013, and with it will come a new
design. ABC’s recently introduced weekly e-newsletter,
Herbal News &
Events,
will commence a second year of keeping ABC members and supporters up-to-date on
events, conferences, and news stories that are relevant to the herbal
community.
In addition to using the written word to educate the public on the responsible
use of herbal and other plant-based ingredients, ABC helps steward the next
generation by offering internships for pharmacy,
dietetic, botany, horticulture, journalism, and marketing students at its
Austin, Texas headquarters. 2013 will mark the 15th year that ABC has
called the Case Mill Homestead “home.” The 2.5-acre
complex boasts more than a dozen herbal theme gardens where medicinal plants
are cultivated to help educate interns as well as the general public through tours
and events like HerbDay. HerbDay is a coordinated
series of independently produced public education events that celebrate the
importance of herbs and herbalism. Each year, ABC opens its gardens for a full
day of herb walks, lectures, children’s activities, and plant and book sales.
The 8th annual HerbDay will be
held on May 4, 2013.
An increasingly digital world also has led ABC to expand its education methods
online. The information-rich website, www.herbalgram.org, is constantly growing with new articles and
information. ABC recently added a new database to its online resources: The ABC Clinical Guide to
Herbs, ABC’s highly-praised reference book,
is now available through ABC’s website,
allowing members to search through therapeutic monographs and clinical study
details on 30 best-selling herbs. What barely could have been imagined when HerbalGram first began and ABC
was founded is now a reality with the addition of a digital, flip-page version of the journal. The
insightful articles and full-color photographs found in each physical edition
of HerbalGram have been faithfully
rendered online to create a seamless digital experience on a smartphone or
tablet computer.
ABC’s 25th year will feature the
continued growth of two major research projects. In 2011, ABC collaborated with
the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) and the University of Mississippi’s
National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR) to address the accidental
and intentional adulteration of botanical dietary ingredients. Dozens of
underwriters and supporters have come together to sustain the program. To date,
the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical
Adulterants program has published four
articles on botanical adulteration, all of which appeared in HerbalGram and are available
online. Four additional adulteration articles are slated for next year. In
2013, ABC also is planning to publish a book by Blumenthal and Jay Pierotti,
PhD, on solvents used in the manufacture of botanical extracts, food flavors,
and natural food ingredients.
Steven Foster, author, photographer, and Chairman of ABC’s Board of Trustees,
said, “For nearly a quarter century, a time in which we've
seen herbal product sales in the United States increase by an estimated
ten-fold, and perhaps more scientific research on medicinal plants published
than in the previous 200 years, the American Botanical Council (ABC) has been
at the international forefront of serving as the primary vehicle for bringing
truthful information on the benefits and risks of herbs to the research
community, health professionals, industry, the media and consumers. Through its
widely respected journal HerbalGram, HerbClip service, dozens of
special publications, and media communiqués, ABC is the premier go-to source
for cutting-edge knowledge in the modern herbal renaissance.”
“It would be easy to look back at all we’ve accomplished so far and think,
‘We’re already doing so much for the herbal community,’ and not push ourselves
to do more,” said Blumenthal. “But the drive to do more than the status quo is
integral to the spirit of ABC. I look forward to everything we will do in our
25th year and beyond for
the next decades.” |
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