There was a herbal medicine in the market recently that manufacturers claimed was a sure cure for diabetes," said Dr Mazen Ali Naji, General Manager of the Zayed Complex for Herbal Research and Traditional Medicine.
"It quickly became a best-seller and then a government department sent us a sample to test," he said.
The tests showed that the "herbal medicine" contained toxic chemicals which would have adversely affected the liver of patients and the product was banned, he said.
The Zayed Complex for Herbal Research and Traditional Medicine recently sent out a warning when a man died after drinking a concoction made from the leaves of a plant. It has compiled a list of poisonous plants in the UAE and other countries.
Natural resources
The complex was established in 1996 on the orders of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who felt there was a need for an institution that can utilise the country's natural resources and gather knowledge about traditional systems of medicine.
Shaikh Zayed's dream project recently achieved international recognition. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the complex as its collaborative centre for traditional medicine in May this year. "We have been providing information for WHO booklets for the past six years," said Dr Naji.
The complex has published more than 130 articles and abstracts in reputed conference papers, he said.
Dr Naji said research into new medicines for chronic diseases is the most important activity at the complex. "We recently completed tests on new medicines for diabetes, hypertension, kidney stones and gastric ulcers," he said.
But he said the lack of volunteers for clinical trials is a major hurdle in transforming the successful research into medicinal products, says the director. "We depend on animals [such as rats] for the clinical trials," he said.
But recently, its collaboration with WHO has opened the door for cooperation with its centre in Italy for clinical trials on humans.
The Department of Ethnobotany at the Zayed Complex has compiled information after interviewing local healers and herbalists and after detailed studies of 200 plants that have been found in the country.
The information can be found in its Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants of the UAE, Volume 1.
It has developed a herbarium to preserve identified plant specimens for future reference work.
About 4,000 plant specimens have been collected from all emirates, which have been identified, preserved and documented in a database.
The director said the development of a database of all medicinal plants in the UAE, a herbal encyclopaedia, a botanical garden of indigenous medicinal plants and the development of bio-pesticides are in the future plans of the complex.
Over 100,000 patients have visited its traditional medicine clinics. The clinics also treat patients suffering from hypertension, acidity, cough and bronchitis, irritable bowel syndrome and kidney stones.
"Besides contributions to research, we train students of the UAE University and Higher Colleges of Technology every year," said Dr Naji.
The public can call 02-5824000 from 8am to 4pm daily for information regarding a particular item.
Helpline: 02-5824000
