Some herbal medicines found to be contaminated

Healthfacts, Oct, 2008 by Maryann Napoli

Herbal medicines are widely perceived by the public as safe, certainly in contrast to prescription drugs. But a new study found that a substantial proportion of ayurvedic medicines, made in the U.S. or in India, have dangerous levels of lead, mercury or arsenic. The findings were published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The research team led by Robert Saper, MD, Boston University School of Medicine, found that one in five of the 193 ayurvedic herbal supplements bought online contained arsenic, mercury or lead.

Ayurveda is an ancient form of medicine that originated in India. Illness is treated with herbal products, including some known as rasa shastra that are intentionally mixed with metals, minerals and gems. Ayurvedic practitioners believe that rasa shastra medicines, if prepared according to ancient protocols, become non-toxic and therapeutic, wrote Dr. Saper and colleagues. Their analysis showed that these rasa shastra products were more than twice as likely as non--rasa shastra products to contain metals with high concentrations of lead and mercury.

"Among the metal-containing products, 95% were sold by U.S. Web sites and 75% claimed Good Manufacturing Practices," wrote Saper and colleagues. "All metal-containing products exceeded one or more standards for acceptable daily intake of toxic metals."

As with other herbal medicines sold in the U.S., ayurvedic products are classified as dietary supplements. This means that their manufacturers are not required by the FDA to prove that their products are safe or effective. Nor does the FDA specify maximum acceptable concentrations for contaminants in dietary supplements.

Maryann Napoli, Center for Medical Consumers [C] 2008