Botanical Supplements: Weeding Out the Health Risks

For the past decade, the U.S. medical establishment has been adjusting to the rising popularity of herbal remedies and other dietary supplements. The 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) created a new regulatory approach for products that included herbal products, vitamins, and minerals. Intended to streamline the entry of lower-risk products to the marketplace, DSHEA has since become viewed by some as having unleashed a deluge of relatively unregulated pharmacologically active products onto unwary consumers. At the same time, reports have mounted describing products of variable quality and manufacturers who lack accountability for their claims. Today, regulatory agencies are ramping up their efforts to ensure the safety of botanical supplements.