2003-02-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

Advances in medical science have not been accompanied by advances in morality and ethics in the drug industry in general and the lack of any meaningful regulation or testing in the herb and supplement industry acts to promote artifice as the standard for marketing health food supplements.

Dr. Stephen E. Straus, director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, wrote in the The New England Journal of Medicine, "Just because an herb is natural does not mean that it is safe, and claims of remarkable healing powers are rarely supported by evidence."
He also wrote, "With herbal medicines, what is on the label may not be what is in the bottle." In tests of ginseng products he cited, analyses showed that one contained only 12 percent of the amount of active ingredients listed on the label; another contained a whopping 328 percent.
I cannot think of any other industry where a failure to deliver the product advertised would not be considered fraud. There is practically no regulation of herbal remedies, and diet supplement. Food additives are subject to higher safety standards than either herbal remedies or diet supplements.

Neither the price nor the fact that a well-known company markets a product is sufficient to guarantee that the product either contains the advertised components or that it is free from harmful contaminants such as lead or other heavy metals. Beware.

Health Matters