Accidental poisoning with herbs having medicinal and poisonous effects and its prevention

Every foodstuff or medicinal agent can be a poison, just as any poison can be a medicine depending on the mode and intention with which it is given or taken. In India, the prevalence of accidental poisoning from therapeutic agents derived from medicinal herbs is not very high, but the crisis is real, and that has to be taken into consideration. A part of this paper concerns a case of aconite poisoning from Allana College of Pharmacy, Pune. The patient who had taken a root of aconite accidentally during the course of a practical exercise manifested typical signs and symptoms of aconite poisoning.

In India some herbs are used as medicine in the Ayurvedic and Unani systems of Medicine, which have poisonous effects also. But when these poisonous effects of the plants are not destroyed through proper methods of processing, accidental toxicity can result in an individual. The methods of destroying the poisonous effects of these herbs used by Unani system of Medicine are also discussed in this paper.