Herbs America's Quality, Sustainability, and Certifications

Herbs America Quality and Sustainability

The search for treasures derived from jungle pharmacopeia is a practice funded by almost every major pharmaceutical company in the world. Call it bio-piracy or bio-prospecting, each company has its own branch of researchers combing the tropical forests of the world, often in secret. Indigenous people have gradually become aware of this and are rightfully seeking injunctions to keep multinational drug companies from patenting their traditional formulations. Most of these formulas are actually empirically verified treatments which native people have refined after a millennia of active research and development. At ATL we believe naturally occurring phytochemicals found in plants should never be ‘owned’ by any one company. We strive to develop an equitable approach to cooperate with indigenous leaders in the marketing and cultivation of the plants and remedies which they, and their ancestors, have developed.

Proper Preservation Techniques

We work with small lots that are fresh harvested by master herbalists to impart the strongest therapeutic benefits. Our team members have knowledge of climates, soils and appropriate harvesting and preservation techniques.

Nursery beds are set up for the cultivation of medicinal trees and shrubs. The young trees are then transplanted back into the forest, or at the edge of grasslands where logging by timber companies or ranching has destroyed the jungle cover.

Materia Prima! Extra fine raw material Our raw materials are derived from organically certified farms or wildcrafted under our ‘Sustainable Harvest’™ label. In many regions of the Amazon and Andes, we continue to work with indigenous groups who cultivate endemic medicines in their original, native habitat. In South America many of our staff botanists are leading taxonomic botanists. They maintain collections of plant vouchers, chemical analysis, botanical specimens and a database which is unparalleled in North America. Today, our network of growers and wildcrafters supply the freshest and finest medicinal plants in the industry.

Cultivation techniques for a sustainable yield are metted out under the Amazon’s demanding conditions. Lands once damaged by logging, erosion and cattle ranching are now planted in native medical herbs for export to our laboratories. Here, Amazon Smilax and other herbs are introduced from the wild into garden beds for a more regulated control of harvest

Dr. Barrantes (left) and Dr. Maximo Aedo (right) tend germplasm and genetic material in vivo. Plants such as these were developed by the Inca and other pre-Columbian cultures over decades of natural selective harvest in the Andes mountains (left). Careful techniques such as co-management direct planting under the forest canopy, mimics exactly the growing conditions of sensitive, rare botanicals.

Herbs America Certifications

Herbs America strives to offer the best in the health food supplements. All our herbs undergo Third-Party Laboratory Testing to ensure accurate species identification and the highest quality available.

The following natural foods certificates are received from governing health bodies. We are frequently inspected and keep up to date on all our processes.