The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has circulated a proposal for a new field of activity on medicinal plants.
As the U.S. member body to ISO, the American National Standards Institute is inviting all relevant and interested stakeholders to submit comments on the proposal.
The proposal, submitted by the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran, explains that along with the rise of herbal medicine use worldwide and the rapid expansion of the global market, the safety and quality of herbal materials and finished herbal products have become major concerns for health authorities, pharmaceutical industries, and the public.
On a global scale, this field of activity will be commercially beneficial to all countries that manufacture or use medicinal plants, including the United States, China, India, Iran, Germany, Britain, Japan, Turkey, Italy, South Africa, Australia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
The document proposes standardization activities in the field of medicinal plants and propagation materials, including terminology, sampling, test methods and analysis, product specifications, safety and quality requirements for packaging, storage, and transportation.
Interested stakeholders are invited to review the proposal, which includes listings of relevant documents at international, regional, and national levels, and affected stakeholder categories that may benefit from or be impacted by the proposed standard.
Comments can be submitted to ANSI Senior Director of International Policy Steve Cornish at scornish@ansi.org by close of business November 4.
Based on the feedback received, the ANSI ISO Council will then be asked to approve an ANSI position and comments to be submitted to ISO before the deadline of January 15, 2017.