Mexico Is a Paradise for Medicinal Plants, Second Worldwide Vallarta Daily News
go to original February 8, 2022

Mexico Medical Plants: Mexico is renowned for the indigenous medicinal (TRT World)

Mexico has a wide floristic richness with 4,500 species. It occupies the second place in the world in the registry of plants for medicinal use, only after China, said the teacher in Sciences, Balbina Vázquez Benítez, who pointed out that 90% of the population uses or used some medicinal plant; however, only 5% of the species have scientific studies.

Also, the researcher at the Faculty of Higher Studies (FES) Zaragoza, of the UNAM, commented that the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) has documented 3,000 species of medicinal plants, despite the fact that Mexico has 4,500.

In the Dialogue program of the National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural, and Livestock Research (Inifap), of the Ministry of Agriculture, it was said that the country has an enormous wealth of plants for medicinal use.

But further studies, identification, and protocols are required for its propagation and production, in addition to avoiding over-exploitation and damage caused by the loss of ecosystems.

Professor Vázquez, also suggested, that around 250 native and exotic species are commercialized, most of which come from the wild, for which it is necessary to have comprehensive establishment plans in protocols for their propagation and production in order to expand the diversity.

And the Inifap researcher and specialist in Plant Biotechnology, Salvador Horacio Guzmán Maldonado, warned that when the medicinal use of some plants is promoted excessively, there is a risk of overexploitation and extinction of species.

He stated that its uses must be taken care of so as not to harm the environment. Overharvesting can wipe out native plants.

Read the rest at Vallarta Daily News