The Mexican government formalized the traditional medicine pharmacopoeia of the Yaqui People after two years of continuous work, the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) confirmed today.
Federal and state government authorities, as well as the governors of the eight Yaqui towns, delivered the first copies that will be received by six thousand families in said towns.
Benefiting their communities
The traditional governor of Tórim, Trinidad Contreras Buitimea, welcomed them in his native language and expressed to federal, state and municipal public servants that his people receive them with brotherhood, affection and love, with the gratitude of rolling their eyes for the first time to benefit their communities.
Alejandra Frausto Guerrero, federal Secretary of Culture,highlighted the importance of the existence of this material, which brings together the knowledge of one of the original cultures of Mexico that has withstood the passage of time and preserved its knowledge.
The deepest part of Nature
“The richness of herbal medicine has to do with the deepest part, which is the earth. Nature can give us certain dangers and diseases, but in the same place it will give us the antidote and the herbs know that and you who have preserved the earth know it”, Guerrero expressed.
Alejandro Svarch Pérez, head of Cofepris,explained that, based on the Justice Plan of the Yaqui People, signed by President Andrés Manuel LópezObrador in 2021, the regulatory agency launched actions in favor of the preservation and recognition of medicine traditional of this town:
Two years later, he added, “we have the first edition of this Pharmacopoeia of the native peoples: herbalism of the Yaqui people; This specimen is a reflection of something unique: the collective construction of knowledge in favor of public health”.
This first fascicle contains knowledge about the identification, collection, components and medicinal uses of 25 plant species, and was prepared under the advice and approval of more than 30 traditional doctors, who guided the staff of Cofepris and the Permanent Commission of the Pharmacopoeia of the United Mexican States.
In this way, he stated, it is guaranteed that, through health regulation, large transnational corporations cannot usurp the knowledge of indigenous peoples or patent the healing properties of certain plants in other countries, leaving small national producers out of the market.
AdelfoRegino Montes, general director of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples,highlighted that herbalism and traditional medicine are an essential part of the ancient culture of indigenous peoples, especially the Yaqui nation, whose experts in traditional medicine speak through of plants and nature to heal the body and spirit.
