WHO to investigate kava ban

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03/12/2003

Last week the Welsh national assembly overruled a ban on the herb kava brought by the UK's Medicines Control Agency in December last year. Other regions of the UK are expected to follow the move. The kava industry has suffered significantly from the far-reaching ban, which includes most of Europe's key herbal medicine markets, such as Switzerland, Germany and France. Health Canada also banned the herb.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also confirmed in minutes from its first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Safety of Medicinal Products (ACSMP), held in Geneva in October, that it has decided to re-evaluate kava. The news was welcomed by campaigners who recently met with WHO members and industry stakeholders in Brussels.

The International Kava Executive Committee (IKEC) called the news a "major success," attributing it to their August meeting with kava stakeholders in Brussels. A major report on the herbal that concludes it can be used safely, 'In Depth Investigation on EU Member States Market Restrictions on kava products', was presented at this meeting.

The ACSMP endorsed the recommendation to obtain data from countries where adverse reaction reports relating to kava are available, including comprehensive literature reviews. According to further reports, the WHO has involved two of their Pharma Co-vigilance Centres in the evaluation process, one in Europe and one in the Pacific.

It also said that the WHO Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring would help compile the available data on kava products and their safety as well as reevaluate all data thereafter. The investigation could be undertaken possibly as a PhD project in a suitable location.

According to Joerg Gruenwald, executive director of the IKEC this decision is seen as a great chance to get a new, comprehensive evaluation of kava, which should include all the data and publications that have been published before and after kava was banned in several countries..

The United States has never banned the sale of kava. The University of Hawaii, at the request of the islands' kava growers, investigated the allegations of liver damage attributed to the use of kava that originated in Europe. The Hawaiians found that certain European manufacturers were using cuttings and peelings on the cheap instead of the more expensive actual kava tuber in their product.

Kava has been used safely by Polynesians for many centuries without evidence of harm. There is some concern that the pharmacartels, fearing for their highly profitable lock on the market for their toxic prescription anti depressants were behind the kava scare campaign.

Once again the usual suspects have shot first only to ask questions much later after the damage has been done.

Croft Woodruff
604 327 3889

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