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The National Assembly of Wales as a result of a case brought by the UK's National Association of Health Stores, has reversed a two-year ban on the sale of herbal products containing Kava Kava. The decision came into effect at the end of October 2003.

Kava Kava, a root traditionally used to prepare a relaxing drink in South Sea island cultures, had become a widely used alternative to pharmaceutical anti-depressants in Europe until two years ago, when products containing Kava were linked - some say in a very superficial way - to cases of liver toxicity by Swiss and German health authorities and were subsequently banned in Europe as well as several other countries around the world.

Hawai'i is one of the principal producers of Kava Kava, and investigating what might have happened, a team of University of Hawaii scientists traced the kava-liver problem to extracts made from the peelings of the kava plant's stem bark which contain an alkaloid called pipermethystine. Preliminary test results showed that this alkaloid had a "strong negative effect" on liver cell cultures. Normally the stem bark is discarded but as demand for kava increased in the 1990's European extractors began purchasing the stem bark peelings and using the extract in kava products. Traditional kava drinkers only use the root of the plant which does not contain the alkaloid.

Dr. Joerg Gruenwald, executive director of the International Kava Executive Committee, is quoted as saying that he expects other UK regional governments to follow the lead of the Wales assembly.

A scientific review of the cases cited by the Swiss and German health authorities and of the safety record of Kava products does not support a conclusion that Kava is dangerous, according to Gruenwald.

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