To preserve Arnica, a wild plant threatened with extinction, Laboratoires Boiron has set up good practices for picking with detailed specifications.<\/p>\n
Each year, between approximately June\u00a01 and July\u00a020, twenty or so professional pickers harvest Arnica for Laboratoires Boiron. They pick the entire plant with a part of the root in the high\u2011altitude meadows of six mountainous regions: the Vosges, the Alps, the Massif Central, Ard\u00e8che, the Pyrenees and Aveyron.<\/p>\n
To preserve wild plants, promote biodiversity and ensure an Arnica montana crop of excellent quality, Laboratoires Boiron has set up detailed specifications. They require strict picking conditions, such as:<\/p>\n
\n\u00ab\u00a0La premi\u00e8re qualit\u00e9 que l\u2019on demande aux r\u00e9coltants, c\u2019est d\u2019\u00eatre des botanistes. Ils doivent connaitre une grande partie des esp\u00e8ces v\u00e9g\u00e9tales et savoir reconnaitre les plantes dans leur habitat naturel\u00a0\u00bb, explique Fran\u00e7oise Merceron, Pharmacien et Responsable de l\u2019achat des plantes pour les laboratoires Boiron, avant d\u2019ajouter\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0C\u2019est \u00e9galement important que les r\u00e9coltants respectent la nature. L\u2019Arnica montana est une esp\u00e8ce o\u00f9 il faut faire vraiment attention lors de sa cueillette \u00e0 laisser toujours une partie de plante en place, de telle sorte qu\u2019elle puisse se renouveler et que l\u2019on puisse avoir la ressource n\u00e9cessaire aux ann\u00e9es futures\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Arnica Fact #8<\/h2>\n
The history of a partnership<\/h3>\n
More than simple suppliers, the Arnica pickers have become partners of Laboratoires Boiron over the years.<\/p>\n
Arnica Pickers: Boiron\u2019s Natural Partners<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s been the same ritual every year for the past 20\u00a0years: Vincent Deschandol scours the Ard\u00e8che plateau to pick Arnica montana in compliance with the Boiron specifications. \u201cI have always had a very good relationship with Boiron,\u201d states this nature\u2011lover, who has enjoyed visiting the laboratories several times. \u201cKnowing what our plants are going to become is essential,\u201d says the harvester.<\/p>\n
Deschandol is not alone in this. For the harvesting of Arnica montana, like for all the plants, Laboratoires Boiron works with pickers who have become true partners over time. Some of these partnerships have lasted for more than 20\u00a0years, with father and son harvesters.<\/p>\n
It must be said that working with wild plants requires great flexibility, for both the pickers and the laboratory. A harvest can be postponed due to poor weather conditions, or a plant may need to be picked as soon as possible because it is flowering. The partnership with the pickers makes it possible to be aware of this kind of change and to ensure receipt under urgent conditions or to postpone a delivery.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFor me, the important thing is the relationships with the people who are in direct contact with nature. These partnerships allow us to have raw material of optimal quality,\u201d explains Fran\u00e7oise Merceron, a pharmacist and head of plant purchasing for Laboratoires Boiron.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Arnica Fact #9<\/h2>\n
Boiron expertise<\/h3>\n
As soon as it arrives at the Messimy site next to Lyon, the Arnica montana undergoes a battery of tests for quality control. This is an absolutely necessary step prior to its transformation.<\/p>\n
Ensure the Purity of the Arnica<\/h3>\n
\n\u201cArnica is a very important plant for us\u2014it is a component of a certain number of proprietary medicinal products that we manufacture, and it is one of the flagship products that we produce in tubes and doses. The entire team is therefore extremely motivated when it arrives. We impatiently wait for the month of July to arrive! \u201c says Lo\u00efc Butavand, a pharmacist and the manufacturing director at the Messimy site.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
As soon as it is received at the laboratory, the Arnica montana is the subject of a computer declaration. The control teams then carry out botanical recognition to check that it is the right plant, using the flora in particular.<\/p>\n
Arnica Arrives in Numbers<\/h3>\n
There are more than fifteen deliveries to the laboratory between May and July, accounting for several tons of Arnica.<\/p>\n
The general quality of the batch is then checked. \u201cWe make sure the plant does not have any parasites, it has not been damaged during transport, and it does not have anything foreign on it. We also measure its moisture level, as well as its radioactivity using a Geiger counter,\u201d explains Carmen Pont, who works in the botanical control department of Laboratoires Boiron.<\/p>\n
Compliance with the delivery deadlines (a maximum of 48\u00a0hours after harvest) and the origin of the plant are also checked. Then, the Arnica undergoes phyto\u2011chemical analyses\u2014checking for anything foreign and loss upon desiccation on the fresh plant.<\/p>\n
If the plant passes all these tests successfully, the IT release is carried out. The transformation and manufacturing phase can then begin.<\/p>\n
Arnica Fact #10<\/h2>\n
Transformation into medicine<\/h3>\n
In order to transform plants into homeopathic medicines, the active substances need to be extracted. This process, which leads to the manufacture of the mother tincture, is perfectly controlled by Laboratoires Boiron. This unique know\u2011how is the result of more than half a century of experience and innovation.<\/p>\n
The Transformation of Arnica into a Homeopathic Medicine<\/h3>\n
The mother tincture is the point of departure for all homeopathic medicines. The manufacturing cycle of this mother tincture lasts approximately one month. Four steps are necessary:<\/p>\n
\n
- Maceration: After being cut, the plants are macerated for several days in a mixture of water and alcohol in stainless steel containers. The moisture level of the plant, which is determined by weighing it on an infra\u2011red scale, makes it possible to precisely calculate the amount of purified water and alcohol to add. In the end, the alcohol content generally varies between 45% and 65% for most of Boiron\u2019s mother tinctures.<\/li>\n
- Expression: The Boiron team then carries out the expression of the mother tincture using hydraulic presses. The expression of the juice makes it possible to separate the \u201cgreen waste,\u201d called the \u201ccake,\u201d from the future mother tincture. The cakes are recovered and used in compost.<\/li>\n
- Filtration: The solution is filtered to eliminate particles larger than 1 micron.<\/li>\n
- The control of the production of a mother tincture concerns its alcohol concentration, the examination of the dry residue, the identification of the characteristic components by thin layer chromatography, and the screening for impurities (residues from pesticides, heavy metals, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Once the homeopathic mother tincture has been obtained, Boiron carries out the subsequent dilutions. For this, 1\/100th of the mother tincture is taken and diluted in \u00a099\/100th of the water\/alcohol solution. The mixture is then shaken vigorously. This is called dynamization (or succussion). We then obtain a dilution of 1\u00a0CH.<\/p>\n
The dilutions are carried out under laminar flow hoods that make it possible to work in an extremely pure atmosphere. When the desired dilution is ready, it is incorporated into neutral supports (granules and globules) during the medication phase.<\/p>\n
Boiron uses the triple medication method, which is a specific patent that ensures homogeneous distribution. It takes 55\u00a0minutes to medicate 5\u00a0kg of globules.<\/p>\n
Arnica by the numbers:<\/h3>\n
\n
- Approximately 20 professional picking partners<\/li>\n
- 48-hour maximum between harvest and arrival at the laboratory<\/li>\n
- About 15 Arnica deliveries to the laboratory between May and July<\/li>\n
- 8 people specific to the entire manufacturing process (all workshops and sites together)<\/li>\n
- 1 month from the start of maceration to the transmission of the sample mother tincture to the control laboratory<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n\u201cWe ensure as much quality as possible at each step of manufacturing with controls upon receipt, good manufacturing practices, and control of the mother tincture and the final or semi\u2011final product.\u2019\u2019 \u2013\u00a0Jean\u2011Christophe Bayssat,\u00a0Pharmacist and Deputy Director General in charge of industrial operations at Boiron.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arnica Fact #7 Preserving Arnica To preserve Arnica, a wild plant threatened with extinction, Laboratoires Boiron has set up good practices for picking with detailed specifications. A Constant Commitment for Boiron Each year, between approximately June\u00a01 and July\u00a020, twenty or so professional pickers harvest Arnica for Laboratoires Boiron. They pick the entire plant with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":185532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-homeopathy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223255,"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17131\/revisions\/223255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boiron.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}