And we estimate that 80 per cent of the rest world of the world still use some form of traditional herbal treatment,” Dr Gordon told the Jamaica Observer in an extended interview last week.
“We must continue with using herbal medicine because there are truths to it and but there are rules to it too,” Dr Gordon, also a medical practitioner, told the Sunday Observer.
“Traditional herbal practitioners in communities across Jamaica may not have a large amount of money to invest in herbal medicine and bring it in the mainstream, and then the big concern is that BigPharma (pharmaceutical corporations) comes in, takes it and make millions from it,” said Dr Gordon.
Jamaica's nutraceutical regulation committee headed by notable Jamaican scientist, Dr Errol Morrison, is currently looking to establish nutraceutical remedies as an alternative form of medicine.
Dr Gordon is also part of a research partnership between Jamaica and the Harvard International Phytomedicine and Medical Cannabis Institute in the study of Jamaica's traditional medicinal herbs
“We are part of an international network of scientists who still believe that plant medicine is very important, has been important in the past, continues to be important today, and will become even more important in the future because people have a right to use herb as their medicine,” he said.
