Advance Access Publication 4 September 2008 Meeting Report eCAM 2010;7(3)391–395 doi:10.1093/ecam/nen059 Science Across Borders: 5th Annual Natural Health Product Research Conference—March 26–29, 2008, Toronto, Canada Muhammad Nabeel Ghayur Department of Medicine, McMaster University, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Canada is experiencing a growing interest in the use of alternative therapies and products particularly natural health products (NHP). In 1997, Canadians spent around C$ 2 billion on NHP. In an attempt to catch with this popularity of NHP use, Canadian researchers and administrators from academia, industry and government jointly established the Natural Health Product Research Society of Canada (NHPRS). Since its formation, NHPRS has been organizing an annual meeting which brings together world renowned researchers and experts in the area of NHP research. For 2008, the annual NHPRS meeting took place in Toronto from the 26th to 29th of March with a focus on ‘Science Across Borders: Global Natural Health Products Research’. The scientific program was spread into three days of plenary lectures and oral presentations. The different sessions containing these talks were on: ethnobotany around the world; chemical analysis of NHP; product standards and quality control; ethnomedicine; novel analytical approaches; systemic research, nutrisciences and molecular medicine; and drug development from NHP. The meeting proved to be a great success in terms of the speakers that were invited and based on the data that was presented which highlighted recent research taking place in the field of NHP not only in Canada but from many parts of the world. Keywords: meeting – natural health products – alternative therapies – ethnobotany – chemical analysis – quality control – drug development Introduction Just like most of the countries in the world, Canada is also seeing a growing interest in the use of alternative therapies and products, particularly natural health products (NHP). The different NHP professionals practicing in Canada are naturopathic doctors, doctors of traditional Chinese medicine, herbalists, homeopaths and ayurveda practi- tioners (1). In 1997, Canadians spent almost C$ 2 billion on NHP (2). Seeing this interest in the use of NHP, the Natural Health Product Directorate (NHPD) was estab- lished by the federal government to overlook the regula- tion and rational use of NHP in Canada (3). Later in 2003, For reprints and all correspondence: Muhammad Nabeel Ghayur, PhD, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Room L-314, 50 Charlton Avenue E, Hamilton L8N4A6, Ontario, Canada. Tel: 1-905-5221155 (x 34327); Fax: 1-905-5406510; E-mail: nghayur@mcmaster.ca researchers and administrators from academia, industry and government jointly founded a federally incorporated and non-profit organization, the Natural Health Product Research Society of Canada (NHPRS) (4). Since its incep- tion, NHPRS besides working to provide scientific basis for use of NHP in Canada has also been organizing an annual meeting that brings together leading researchers, from all across North America and the world, working in the area of NHP. This year, the NHPRS meeting took place in Toronto from the 26th to 29th of March 2008, with a focus on ‘Science Across Borders: Global Natural Health Products Research’ (5). Ethnobotany Around the World: Opportunities and Challenges Day 1 began with the opening of the conference by Robin Marles of NHPD, while the welcome and The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org