AOAC INTERNATIONAL®, NHPRS, HKBU, AIHM, IHPC, and IRH Endorse the Botanical Adulterants Program

AOAC INTERNATIONAL®, a globally recognized, independent, third-party, not-for-profit, and voluntary consensus standards-developing organization, has publicly endorsed the Botanical Adulterants Program. The organization, founded in 1884 to develop methods for the analysis of fertilizers, was once a part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Known originally as the Association of Agricultural Chemists, it later was called the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, but is now known simply by its acronym, AOAC. It has over 3000 members worldwide, including chemists from regulatory agencies, academia, and industry. AOAC’s primary activity is the development of globally accepted methods for the testing of numerous types of substances, and it publishes the internationally recognized Official Methods of Analysis^SM and the Journal of AOAC INTERNATIONAL. AOAC industry partners represent a broad spectrum of interests including foods and beverages, dietary supplements, infant formula, feeds, fertilizers, soil and water, veterinary drugs, and pharmaceuticals. AOAC has a history of developing analytical methods that have become standards for the dietary supplements industry, and has signed a five-year contract with the United States National Institutes of Health-Office of Dietary Supplements (NIH/ODS) to establish voluntary consensus standards for high-priority dietary supplement ingredients (e.g., anthocyanins, chondroitin), with the goal of obtaining First Action Official Methods^SM. In the endorsement letter, AOAC Board President Erik J.M. Konings, PhD, of Nestlé in Switzerland and James Bradford, PhD, executive director of AOAC INTERNATIONAL, wrote that “AOAC supports the Botanical Adulterants Program’s focus on educating industry, researchers, health professionals, regulators, and other interested parties with respect to the confirmation of types of adulteration and evaluation of analytical methods.” (ABC’s press release on the AOAC endorsement is available here.)

Founded in 2003, the Natural Health Products Research Society (NHPRS) is a nonprofit organization bringing together academic, industry, and government researchers from across Canada. The society has an annual meeting where topics in areas of dietary supplement quality control and standard setting, production and processing, product development and formulation, product safety and efficacy, and clinical use are discussed. Siyaram Pandey, PhD, President of NHPRS, wrote in a letter that “The Natural Health Products Research Society of Canada is delighted to support and endorse the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program. The Program’s mission of education, rigorous scientific research, and supporting quality ingredients in botanicals and related plant derived materials is laudable and timely. Our Board of Directors voted unanimously in favor of the program.”  

The Hong Kong Baptist University’s (HKBU) School of Chinese Medicine is a leading institution for education in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). By integrating teaching, research, clinical service, and technology, the School strives to achieve an all-round development with the aim of modernizing Chinese medicine and advancing it into the international arena. In addition to research and education, HKBU leads a testing and quality certification scheme for the Chinese medicine industry, the Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Authentication Centre (HKCMAC), which provides macroscopic and microscopic identification, chemical authentication, pharmacology and toxicology, and physicochemical and safety testing. In his letter to Mark Blumenthal, director of the Botanical Adulterants Program, Professor Zhongzhen Zhao, PhD, Associate Dean of the School of Chinese Medicine stated, “As more and more people worldwide are using herbal medicine and traditional medicine systems such as Chinese medicine, the correct identification of herbal medicines has become a global issue. Consequently, establishing proper educational resources for suppliers, herbalists, and prescribers of Chinese medicine is crucial for the field.”

As stated in the ABC press release from May 5, 2015, four health practitioner groups – AIHM, AHG, IHPC, and IRH – have offered their endorsement and support to the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program. The endorsements by AIHM and AHG have been covered previously in the Botanical Adulterants Monitor.

The Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM) is a professional group that brings together different licensed integrative health practitioners, including family physicians, acupuncturists, nurses, psychologists, and doctors of oriental medicine, and advocates for affordability and accessibility of integrative medicine for patients. In its mission statement, AIHM emphasizes its dedication to engaging a global community of health professionals and health seekers in innovative education, certification, leadership, inter-professional collaboration, research, and advocacy that embraces all global healing traditions, and its promotion of the creation of health and the delivery of evidence-informed comprehensive, affordable, sustainable person-centered care. In a letter dated January 21, 2015, AIHM Executive Director Nancy Sudak, MD, wrote, “We support [the Program’s] mission to preserve botanical purity, and thank you for the effort that the [Program] has made to expose the challenges associated with adulterated herbs in commerce around the world. We will be proud to add our name to [the] growing list of underwriters, endorsers, and supporters.”

Founded in 2003, IHPC advocates for an integrative healthcare system with equal access to a full range of health-oriented, person-centered, regulated healthcare professionals. IHPC represents more than 400,000 licensed professionals and, by extension, millions of patients, regarding the advancement of integrative health in the United States.

Also founded in 2003, the Irish Register of Herbalists (IRH) is the largest professional association of herbalists in Ireland, with members in all of the 32 Irish counties. The IRH strives to ensure the highest standards for the safe, professional, and ethical clinical practice of herbal medicine by its members, and to support the education, growth, and development of the herbal tradition in Ireland and beyond. The endorsement of the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program was made official in a letter by IRH vice-president Danny O’Rawe, who wrote, “The IRH is supporting the Botanical Adulterants Program because we strongly believe in the safety and efficacy of the herbs we use in clinical practice. As an accountable professional organization for herbalists in Ireland of all traditions, part of our role is to promote best practice throughout the herbal sector and we have no hesitation in supporting this important initiative to keep the herb chain free of adulteration and contamination for the good of ourselves and future generations.”