Plantas medicinais: regulamentações e arranjos que transformam experiências em mercados

Abstract

The market for medicinal plants exists in an intimate relationship with trust, as access to information is surrounded by fears and apprehension. This market also includes economic transactions based on certifications and standards, which have allowed the emergence of new types of markets. We call 'arrangements', the different strategies present in the medicinal plant markets, as well as the public policies and legislation that validate their use. The regulations, with their transforming effects, create and encourage the use of medicinal plants in various spaces, ranging from the use made by traditional populations to the Unified Health System (SUS) with its integrative practices that use herbal medicines as one of their activities. The field research began in the Midwest of Brazil and then included different “arrangements” in the Northeast, the North and São Paulo. Anchored in the CPDA ́s line of research: Institutions, Markets and Regulation, the thesis is entitled: “Medical plants: regulations and arrangements that transform experiences into markets”. The formation of these different markets is the object of our analysis and we have been guided by the research problem: is there a national dynamic to the production, use and commercialization of medicinal plants? If so, what arrangements were used to bring this into existence? The overall objective, therefore, was to investigate the reality and possibility of a national market for medicinal plants and its consequences. As specific objectives, we investigated the arrangements present in medicinal plants markets; analyze the various validation systems for the possible effectiveness of medicinal plants; point out public policies and legislation that validate the use of medicinal plants; identify the types of markets that emerge from regulation; describe the role of the consumer in validating the medicinal plant market. Our analysis adopted an economic sociology approach and more specifically the notion of contested markets (Polanyi, Fligstein, Granovetter, Beckert) to understand the dynamics of these different markets. We explore the contradictions of the legislation and raise the need for debate on the recognition of this market, considering its diversity, as well as the possible creation of specific laws for the medicinal plant market.