Herbal Remedies' Claims Questioned

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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. www.reutershealth.com/archive/2003/09/17/eline/links/20030917elin0 29.html

"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. < (subscription required). Other references: www.garynull.com/Documents/Iatrogenic/01Errors.htm

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