ABC announces recipient of 2016 James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award

Handbook of Essential Oils: Science, Technology, and Applications, 2nd edition, edited by K. Hüsnü Can Başer, PhD, and Gerhard Buchbauer, PhD, is the recipient of the 2016 ABC James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award.

This is the second consecutive year that the American Botanical Council (ABC) has awarded its annual Duke Award to a text on essential oils: The 2015 award went to Clinical Aromatherapy: Essential Oils in Healthcare, 3rd edition.

“Essential oils are one of the fastest growing segments of the herbal product market,” noted Mark Blumenthal, ABC’s founder and executive director. “Last year, we bestowed the Duke Award to Dr. Jane Buckle for her excellent book, which documents the evidence-based data for the safe and effective therapeutic uses of many essential oils. This year, we recognize another excellent reference book that provides much of the chemical, quality control, pharmacological, and toxicological bases supporting many of these therapeutic uses.”

Başer is a professor of pharmacognosy at the Near East University in Northern Cyprus, and Buchbauer is the head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Diagnostics at the University of Vienna in Austria. “I am deeply grateful to Mark Blumenthal and the selection committee for bestowing upon my colleague and me this highly prestigious award,” wrote Başer. “The current and future research into essential oils and their volatile constituents is expected to lead to a better understanding and discovery of potential new uses of these valuable natural products.”

Buchbauer added: “We are very pleased about the acknowledgement of our efforts to further develop the science of essential oils. The goal to provide a strong scientific basis for essential oils was and is our everlasting concern.”

“With its broad coverage of aromatic plant agriculture, essential oil manufacturing, quality control, and medicinal and culinary uses, this book has become the reference on essential oils in the cosmetic industry and beyond,” said ABC Chief Science Officer Stefan Gafner, PhD.

The ABC James A. Duke Award will be presented at the 12th Annual ABC Botanical Celebration and Awards Ceremony on March 9, 2017, in Anaheim, California.