Medpundit

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Monday, June 03, 2002

Those "Natural" Herbal Medicines: A woman in Singapore died this weekend after taking Chinese herbal diet pills. The pills were not labeled as containing fenfluramine (once available but now banned in the US because of toxicity). It's tempting to dismiss this as something that could only happen in the Third World, but this stuff can also be shipped here and sold, since no one regulates the dietary supplement industry. Of note is that it's not just deadly drugs that lurk in these "herbals" but deadly contaminants as well:

"China agreed last month to begin regulating its multi-billion dollar traditional medicine industry, including tightening controls on pesticide residues and heavy metal levels in herbs."

That's right. Those "natural" products just might be laced with lead, mercury, and pesticides. Remember that the next time you're tempted to buy something from the "natural health" shelf.

posted by Sydney on 6/03/2002 05:34:00 AM 0 comments

Monday, June 03, 2002

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