Ayurvedic medicines often contaminated by toxic metals, study says

Lead, mercury and arsenic were found in the traditionally Indian herbal mixtures at levels that would surpass California safety guidelines, says a researcher who is calling for FDA curbs.


By Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
2:43 PM PDT, August 26, 2008
Ayurvedic medicines -- herbal mixtures dating back thousands of years in India and increasingly popular in the West -- are frequently contaminated with lead, mercury or arsenic, according to a study published today.

A fifth of the nearly 200 concoctions tested contained levels of the toxic metals that, if taken at the maximum recommended doses, would surpass California's safety guidelines.


Dr. Robert Saper, a Boston University professor of family medicine who led the study, said the findings should spur the Food and Drug Administration to start clamping down on the largely unregulated world of pills, herbs and powders classified as dietary supplements.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-heavymetals27-2008aug27,0,5340783.story?track=rss

I thought natural remedies that came from back when our ancestors lived to 150 years old on average were so much better than the poisons the pharmaceutical industry is trying to kill us with.

for some reason....

I can see it now, busted for buying a can of bootleg tuna.

2. You didn't specify WHAT tuna. Light canned tuna? Bluefin? Albacore?

Federal Saltwater Fishing Regulations, State Fishing Regulations, FDA regulations, Commercial fishing regulations, international standards for canned tuna. Those are a few for you.

David

on anything outside the bounds of Big Pharm. Can't eat into their profit margins.

BTW, tuna fish also has high levels of mercury. Should we regulate that too?

Some DU'ers are such tools.

Yet companies that sell any old shit they want (and make a HUGE profit) are okay as long as it says "natural"? Really?
Tell me how regulation isn't a good thing Mr. McCain?

you HAVE to stop calling DUers names. We're supposed to be together in this!

That being said, of COURSE the ayurvedic medicines are toxic!!!!! They aren't manufactured, tested, and monitored according to the exacting standards of our lily-white pharmaceutical companies. :sarcasm:

and can compel recall and fines of as well as removable of licenses if they fail to meet their standards which can be VERY exacting.

(A couple of years ago, Avandamet and Paxil CR were damn near impossible to get because of one such action even though there was never any cases of someone being harmed, the mere possibility was enough to pull the products and reproduce them).

I have MANY times. It aint a rubber stamp fool! Supplement industry does NOT have to do 1/100% of what the REGULATED industry does..Including 10+ years of testing AND PROVING THAT IT WORKS.
Where as the other people just can say "buy my shit..it works!" And of course even though the supplement industry is A BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY,its not out to make a profit OH NO>...

:popcorn:

right?

There are strong recommendations on preganant women and fish. But if you knew ANYTHING about the FDA (which you DO NOT)..Food is regulated differently than products that are considered biologics or drugs..
I'll ask you again. Why is regulation a BAD thing?

:cry:

:rofl:

Therefore, they must be good for you.

The "health supplements" industry was deregulated in 1994, with the signature of President Clinton. It effectively removed all government oversight of everything that claimed to be a nutritional supplement, including but limited to vitamins, minerals, amino acids, botanical or extract. As long as it is labeled a "dietary supplement," you can sell dried goat piss mixed with pigeon crap and scrapings from inside a flourescent lightbulb and make whatever claim about it you want.

I am not dissing Ayurvedic medicine or other alternative health practices. I am saying that this kind of shoddy, dangerous quality control is exactly why the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 (which created the FDA) were passed in the first place.

As well as food imported from Mexico, etc. Yes, tuna fish is a big risk for pregnant moms too, but they know about it. If the FDA had the proper resources, and focused on the appropriate things, we would be able to import drugs from other countries, saving us a lot of money, and be able to identify problems with imported toothpaste, supplements, food, etc. There are a huge number of imported products that potentially have problems--not just supplements.

Supplements DO NOT. Even if a supplement was found to have toxic chemicals..They have no power to do a recall or ban on it.

Also, think Heparin............supposedly it met FDA standards but oops guess it didn't.