Abstract
As known, Thai folklore wisdom of medicinal plants in pharmaceutical , cosmetics
and food supplements has been used for a long time. Up till now , there is no single Thai
medicinal plant product in worldwide competition market. Infact, Thailand has advantages of
high biodiversity. There are several Thai medicinal plants which can be developed to
medicinal plant cosmetic products. Our preliminary study has indicated that the worldwide
market is very interested in Thai medicinal plants. However, because of the restriction of the
trade regulations in many countries, the development of Thai medicinal plants in the form of
cosmetics is more possible than the form of medicines and food supplements. In 2005,
Thailand has higher import value of medicinal plants and their extracts than the export value
of about 4 times. Therefore, the objective of this research project is to propose the process
for the development of Thai medicinal plant cosmetic products for worldwide market
competition , by evaluating from the searching and collecting of the information from various
sources. The result from this study will decrease the import values of the extract and
cosmetic products containing Thai medicinal plants from abroad and increase the national
incomes. The popular trends of cosmetic activities in worldwide market at present and in the
future are antiaging , whitening, hair growth promotion and body slimming, by emphasizing
on high performance and safety which are cosmeceutical products. We have proposed ten
Thai medicinal plants which have high potential to develop as raw materials in the form of
extract or as the cosmetic products containing the extract for worldwide competition which
are , Aloe barbadensis, Mill, Curcuma longa L. , Pueraria mirifica, Morus alba, Linn, Senecio alata (L.)
Roxb. , Phyllanthus emblica L. , Centella asiatica (L.) , Piper nigrum, Linn, Zingiber montanum (Koenig)
Link ex Dietr. and Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Wall. Ex Nees. The technologies in trends,
which are the plantation and organic approach for the cultivation of the plants,
nanotechnology and biotechnology for the cosmetic products, are proposed to develop the
Thai medicinal plant cosmetic products. The proposed complete process for the
development of Thai medicinal plant cosmetic products for worldwide competition, includes
the strategies , goals , problems, concerned topics and the related factors. The proposed
road map for the development of the Thai medicinal plant cosmetic products for the 5 - year
project (2007-2011) is the two dimensional model, the vertical and the horizontal dimension.
The vertical dimension is composed of the important drives or input of the collaboration and
funding which will be directed to the output of the product, patents and national incomes.
The horizontal dimension is composed of factors which are linked closely including
collaboration between private and government sectors working as clusters, quality
assurance system, revision of the regulations, selection of Thai medicinal plants, production
process, marketing / advertisement and the efficient follow up system. For the proposed
further study continuing from this project, there are more research on the ten selected Thai
medicinal plants , information of the consumers in the worldwide market for importing and the
business plan for the Thai medicinal plant cosmetic products for worldwide competition.
