Why is USP publishing the Herbal Medicines Compendium?

USP believes that public standards are critically important to help ensure the quality of all medicines, including herbal medicines. Through the new HMC, USP now has a forum for advancing standards for herbal ingredients used in traditional medicines worldwide. These ingredients might appear in the United States Pharmacopeia or in an associated compendium, the Dietary Supplements Compendium, but would do so as dietary supplements legally marketed in the United States. HMC will not contain standards for ingredients of animal origin, synthetic chemicals, or biotechnology-derived medicines.