Herbal Supplements Often Have Contaminents, study finds

[Orrex]

Study Finds Supplements Contain Contaminents

Thank goodness that this noble industry is free from regulation and other forms of nanny-state intrusion!



Incidentally, the really amazing thing about this article isn't that the NYT posted it; it's that I found the link to it on HuffPo.

[Dorian Gray]

1. That's frightening.

Arsenic. Lead. Etc.

I take vitamin supplements (per doctor's request), but stay away from the lesser known mineral/herbal supplements for the most part.

[trotsky]

2. Can you imagine how horrible it would be...

if the supplement makers were held to the same purity and potency regulations as the pharmaceutical industry?!?!?

[SidDithers]

9. The horror!...

the horror



Sid

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[salvorhardin]

4. Thankfully there were only trace levels of lead and mercury

The pesticide levels were scary though, as were the health claims made by some of the products. Garlic for high blood pressure? Yeesh!

The levels of heavy metals — including mercury, cadmium and arsenic — did not exceed thresholds considered dangerous, the investigators found. However, 16 of the 40 supplements tested contained pesticide residues that appeared to exceed legal limits, the investigators found. In some cases, the government has not set allowable levels of these pesticides because of a paucity of scientific research.

Investigators found at least nine products that made apparently illegal health claims, including a product containing ginkgo biloba that was labeled as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and a product containing ginseng labeled as a treatment to prevent diabetes and cancer. They also described a salesperson at a supplement specialty store who claimed that a garlic supplement could be taken instead of blood pressure medication.

Any product that claims to treat, cure, prevent or mitigate a disease is considered a drug and must go through strict regulatory reviews.

[HuckleB]

5. Yowsa! K & R.

[Celebration]

6. I like this

"The food safety bill expected to be introduced next month in the Senate is likely to mandate that supplement makers register annually with the F.D.A. and allow the agency to recall supplements suspected of being dangerous."

The FDA needs the authority to pull dangerous supplements, just as they do with food.

[Orrex]

7. Absolutely agree.

There's no good argument in favor of protecting dangerous supplements against oversight or regulation. The industry needs to be policed, and the FDA is the entity most suited to do so.

[mzmolly]

8. Glad to see a call for stricter regulation.

K and R.

This is outrageous!

Among the witnesses at the hearing will be Dr. Tod Cooperman, president of ConsumerLab.com, a company that has tested over 2,000 dietary supplements made by more than 300 manufacturers and has found that one in four have quality problems. According to Dr. Cooperman’s written testimony, the most common problems are supplements that lack adequate quantities of the indicated ingredients and those contaminated with heavy metals.