The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) honored two outstanding individuals and one excellent company with its new AHPA Herbal Awards.
* Staci Eisner was named as the AHPA Herbal Hero
* Nature’s Way Products, Inc. was named the AHPA Herbal Industry Leader
* Norman R. Farnsworth, PhD, received the AHPA Herbal Science Award
“Each of these recipients are outstanding in their own way,” said Beth Lambert, who as the outgoing chair of AHPA’s Board of Trustees, bestowed the awards at the association’s annual member breakfast, which was held during Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California, on March 23. “Their work has wide-ranging effects on this industry as well as this association, as they set high standards that others would do well to match.”
Staci Eisner, of Botanica BioScience and Cortex Scientific Botanicals, was singled out for her invaluable contributions to AHPA over the years, which include acting as managing editor for several guidance documents on some of this industry’s most complex issues (AHPA’s Guidance for Manufacture and Sale of Bulk Botanical Extracts, Use of Marker Compounds in Manufacturing and Labeling Botanically Derived Supplements, Standardization of Botanical Products). She also continues to serve as an AHPA Board member, representing PlusPharma, Inc., chairs AHPA’s Government Relations Committee, and supports AHPA’s educational tele-seminars, including vital work on a guide, How to Conduct an FDA Inspection.
Nature’s Way Products, Inc. is a founding member company of AHPA and continues to support the association and the industry in addition to producing high quality botanical products and supplements. This company’s products not only are based on the current research, but they continue to honor traditional knowledge.
Norman Farnsworth, PhD, is known in medicinal plant circles around the world as one of the leading and most prolific scholars in academia. A professor at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Pharmacy since 1970, his work also includes directing a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine, which focuses the use of traditional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine in primary health care; producing the highly regarded WHO Monographs on Medicinal Plants; directing the Center for Botanical Dietary Supplement Research, which addresses issues of standardization, quality, safety, and efficacy of botanical dietary supplements for women, with particular emphasis on menopause therapies; directing NAtural PRoducts ALERT (NAPRALERT), the largest relational database of world literature describing the ethnomedical or traditional uses, chemistry, and pharmacology of plant, microbial and animal (primarily marine) extracts.
These were the first awards bestowed by AHPA in what will become an annual program.
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The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) is the only national trade association devoted solely to herbal issues. Representing the core of the botanical trade — comprised of the finest growers, processors, manufacturers and marketers of herbal products — AHPA’s mission is to promote the responsible commerce of herbal products. AHPA committees generate self-regulations to ensure the highest level of quality with respect to the way herbs are manufactured, labeled, and sold. Website: www.ahpa.org.