Today s Wall Street Journal reports that over-the-counter herbal supplements are about to undergo increased scrutiny now that the FDA is increasing funding toward evaluating their safety and efficacy. ConsumerLab.com, which tests supplements for quality assurance, has found problems with 25 percent of the supplements on the market, particularly herbal supplements.
ACSH's Jeff Stier was outraged to learn that the federal government is spending another $37 million on top of the previously committed $250 million supplement research on things such as milk thistle and chamomille. Research to date has shown very little evidence of efficacy for botanical and herbal supplements.
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross reminds us that these supplements can be marketed without any kind of scientific basis for efficacy. In addition, the benefits of each remedy ultimately depend on the manufacturing practices, which are not uniform because they are not regulated by the FDA.