The Alarming Toxicity of Ruta Graveolens

Abstract

Worldwide use of Ruta Graveolens as an herb and as alternative medicine has increased dramatically in the past decades without any increased effort to compensate for the toxicity and the unsafe human consumption. While pharmacological studies on drugs that cause cardiac, hepatic, and nephrotoxicity have resulted in drug termination, the same type of studies on herbal medicine are ignored and actions have not been taken to protect the youth from this herb in their productive stages of life. The endemic production of Ruta Graveolens is in India [1], Ethiopia [2], and South Africa [3] where there is a dramatic growth in population that masks the toxic and infertility effect on the younger population. The purpose of this study is to bring awareness that Ruta Graveolens is a toxic plant and should be handled with caution.