America Cracks Down on Herbal Supplements

The Attorneys General of several states recently announced a crackdown on unsafe herbal supplements. A statement by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman “announced the formation of a coalition of state attorneys general from Connecticut, Indiana and Puerto Rico to further investigate the business practices of the herbal supplement industry.

This multistate partnership brings together top law enforcement officers representing nearly 30 million Americans as they seek to ensure that herbal supplement manufacturers and retailers comply with the law.”

Four national retailers—Walmart, Walgreens, GNC, and Target—removed herbal supplements from their shelves in the wake of an investigation by the New York State attorney general’s office which found that the “health” medications were badly mislabelled.

Bottles of herbal pills, for example, often contained doses of the active ingredient that were so small as to be ineffective—when the supplements contained any of the herb at all. Often the consumers were buying products that were contaminated or included inert, inexpensive fillers such as powdered rice.

In fact the investigation found that “four out of five of the products did not contain any of the herbs on their labels. The tests showed that pills labelled medicinal herbs often contained little more than cheap fillers like powdered rice, asparagus and houseplants, and in some cases substances that could be dangerous to those with allergies,” according to a media report.

Even worse, “a popular store brand of ginseng pills at Walgreens, promoted for ‘physical endurance and vitality,’ contained only powdered garlic and rice. At Walmart, the authorities found that its ginkgo biloba, a Chinese plant promoted as a memory enhancer, contained little more than powdered radish, houseplants and wheat—despite a claim on the label that the product was wheat- and gluten-free.”

Supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration because they are not marketed as drugs.

In fact there is no requirement at all that these substances be scientifically tested for safety or efficacy, and many have in fact been proven not to be effective for the conditions they are used. The vitamin and herbal supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar business, and lobbied hard to keep their products from being regulated by the FDA. As a result, the FDA can only step in when something goes wrong, after people have been injured or killed by natural herbs.