Herbal Remedies' Claims Questioned, Dr. Catherine DeAngelis
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The editor of a leading U.S. medical journal called Tuesday for tighter
regulation of herbal remedies because of "potentially misleading" health
claims made by distributors of the products.
"The study ... provides evidence for the easily accessible and
widespread potentially misleading claims made by vendors of herbal
products on the Internet." - Dr. Catherine DeAngelis Editor, Journal of the
American Medical Association
"Because many dietary supplements have or promote biological
activity, they must be considered active drugs and regulated as such," wrote Dr.
Catherine DeAngelis, editor of the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
Classified since 1994 by federal regulators as untested dietary
supplements, U.S. sales of such popular herbal remedies such as ginkgo
biloba, St. John's wort, echinacea, ginseng, garlic, saw palmetto and
kava kava have risen nearly fivefold in the past decade to $18 billion in
2001, a study appearing in the same journal said.
Researchers Charles Morris and Jerry Avorn of Boston's Brigham and
Women's Hospital analyzed hundreds of Web sites pertaining to
health-related uses of herbal products. After linking to vendors' sites, they found
four out of five made one or more health claims and half of those omitted the
standard Food and Drug Administration disclaimer the product "is not
intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."
"The study ... provides evidence for the easily accessible and
widespread potentially misleading claims made by vendors of herbal
products on the Internet," DeAngelis wrote in her editorial.
Another study in the journal found that St. John's wort, taken to
treat depression, sped up the elimination from the body of a common
class of pharmaceutical drugs.
"These findings underscore the potential inherent problems
associated with the widespread practice of using herbal products (at the same time)
with conventional medications," wrote John Markowitz from the Medical
University of South Carolina, in Charleston.
Herbal remedies have also come under scrutiny recently because of
deaths linked to high-profile athletes' use of the herbal stimulant
ephedra.
The editorial said the solution was greater regulation, although
that would increase the FDA's workload. "The U.S. public deserves to have the
funding and resources allocated for their protection," DeAngelis wrote.
� 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Brief commentary: It just may be a good idea to regulate herbs and
supplements to protect the ignorant, unwashed masses from their foolish
choices. However, the iatrogenic application of FDC approved medication
is the third leading cause of death in this country behind heart disease
and cancer.1 Forgive me if I don't lose sleep over the relatively rare
fatal effects of herbal ephedra.
But absent public clamor for such regulation, Dr. DeAngelis would
have to present some evidence that the benefits regulation would bring
outweighs the harm - like more consumer loss of control over their
health care: bad medicine. The above-mentioned studies provide sensational
media grist and little else.
One of the benefits of regulated herbs and supplements would be
the increased profits for their competitors, the pharmaceutical industry.
Both Reuters and Microsoft NBC are remiss for failing to report
the profound conflict of interest the editor of JAMA has in the matter.
JAMA gets virtually all its advertising revenue from same PHARMA, who would
benefit from such regulation, and none from the herbs and supplements
marketers, who would essentially be run out of business.
Dr. DeAngelis is unethical and irresponsible for failing to
disclose this significant conflict, if indeed she has failed to do so. These
medical experts need to wash their hands before proposing and performing their
public health operations.
Readers would also do well to consider Reuters and Microsoft NBC
medical news with a "jaundice eye". -LS.
References
1. On 7/26/00 JAMA, "Disastrous Health Care in the US", reported
that, according to Johns Hopkins, medication errors are the third leading
cause of death in the U.S.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/284/4/483
(subscription required). Other references:
www.garynull.com/Documents/Iatrogenic/01Errors.htm
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