Issue: 69 Page: 56-58
AHPA Adopts New and Revised Trade Recommendations for Herb Industry Self-Regulation
by Mark Blumenthal
HerbalGram. 2006; 69:56-58 American Botanical Council
AHPA Adopts New and Revised Trade Recommendations for Herb Industry Self-Regulation
New policies affect traditional herbs processed with heavy
metals, prohibitions against drug-masking claims, and pesticide analysis for
cultivated ginseng
The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), the
national trade association and voice of the herbal products industry, has
issued new trade recommendations for its members.1 The first
recommendation deals with herbal preparations made with heavy metals according
to traditional processing methods; the second two are revisions of two
previously issued recommendations regarding herbal products that might be sold
to mask drug tests and pesticide levels in cultivated ginseng. The new and
revised policies were approved by the AHPA Board of Trustees at its meeting on
July 15, 2005.
The primary purpose of a trade association like AHPA is to
protect and promote the interests of its members. One of the best ways this can
be achieved is through industry self-regulation. In the case of the herb
industry, whenever problems regarding quality, safety, and claims for product
benefits arise, it is in the interests of the industry association(s) to provide
leadership to its members to help improve conditions in the industry,
eventually for the presumed benefit for the general public. Throughout its
22-year history AHPA has taken the initiative in a variety of labeling,
quality, and safety issues affecting the herb trade by issuing policies and
"trade recommendations" designed to help prevent or remedy various problems.2
AHPA's self-regulatory initiatives are often produced well ahead of any
guidelines or regulations by state or federal regulatory agencies, if any such
regulations are ever issued.
AHPA's trade recommendations become incumbent upon all AHPA
members as a requirement of membership. AHPA's Association By-Laws defines
"Obligations of Membership" to include "É adherence to all policies and principles
of business as outlined in the Code of Ethics."3 The AHPA Code of
Ethics and Business Conduct established that a trade recommendation of the
Board of Trustees constitutes an amendment to the Code. The new and recently
revised trade recommendations described below thus constitute amendments to the
Code of Ethics and are incumbent on all AHPA members. According to AHPA policy
all newly adopted or substantively amended trade recommendations are effective
six months from their date of adoption, unless otherwise noted. (In the case of
the recommendations below, the effective date is December 15, 2005.)
Traditional Metal-Processed Herbs
Over the past several decades there have been reports of
various heavy metals that have been detected in specific "herbal" formulations
from both China and India. According to some traditional methods of processing
herb and other materia medica in
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the Ayurvedic herbal tradition in India,
some herbs are processed with heavy metals (e.g., arsenic, lead, mercury) for
their presumed health benefits. Although TCM and Ayurvedic formulations sold in
the United States in the dietary supplement industry normally do not contain
these heavy metals in any appreciable levels that would cause health concerns,
there have been reports of their illegal presence in TCM or Ayurvedic products,
many of which are imported and sold directly in ethnic markets in the United
States. For example, an article published December 2004 in the Journal
of the American Medical Association4
containing an analysis of Ayurvedic herbal products from India that were
purchased in ethnic Indian grocery stores in the Boston area demonstrated that there are excessive levels of some
toxic heavy metals in some of these Indian products. The resulting publicity
surrounding this article has increased the public's awareness of this problem.
The AHPA Board has thus adopted the following trade recommendation dealing with
this issue, as recommended by the AHPA Standards Committee:
Whereas
traditional Ayurvedic formulas may include ingredients that consist of herbs
that are processed with metals; and whereas the presence of several of these
metals in herbal dietary supplements sold in the United States may cause such
products to be adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act;
therefore, AHPA recommends that manufacturers and marketers of herbal products
that are based on Ayurvedic traditions refrain from the inclusion in such
products of any ingredient that is processed with metals if the resultant
presence of heavy metal(s) would cause the product containing the ingredient(s)
to be adulterated under labeled or ordinary conditions of use.1
The presence of heavy metals in any herbal product detected
at levels which may render it injurious to health constitutes an adulterated or
contaminated product and the product is thus illegal. Thus, unlike the two
recommendations below, AHPA has made this recommendation effective immediately
when issued last July.
Prohibition Against Drug-Masking Claims
In the mid 1980s, with the advent of urine testing for
metabolites of marijuana and other illicit drugs, some aggressive marketers
began promoting herbal formulations claiming to be able to assist persons in
masking a test for marijuana. One of the herbs most often promoted for this
purpose was goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis L., Ranunculaceae) root, even though there is no rational basis for
the misguided belief that goldenseal preparations can produce this effectÑthe
myth having been derived from a novel written in 1900 by the renowned herbal
pharmacist John Uri Lloyd.5
AHPA has a long-standing policy, originally published in
March 1998, against labeling dietary supplements and teas containing goldenseal
root or aerial parts as agents to assist in masking the results of drug tests
that are required by many employers and the military. In May 2005, a
Congressional hearing was held to discuss various products, including some that
are labeled as dietary supplements, which are marketed with the deliberate
intention of masking drug testing.6 The AHPA Board decided therefore
to extend the current AHPA policy beyond goldenseal, and the existing policy
published in 1998 was revised as follows:
AHPA recommends that marketers of dietary supplements
refrain from labeling or marketing any dietary supplement in any manner that
suggests that the product masks or defrauds drug testing.1
Pesticide Analysis for Cultivated Ginseng
In 1998 the issue of pesticide and fungicide residues in
cultivated American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L., Araliaceae) roots came to the fore in the US herbal industry.
Because ginseng must be grown in conditions that approximate the light
conditions of the forest canopy, it is grown under shade cloth that allows only
about 25% of the available light through to the plant. Plus, the soil must be
moist and the ginseng roots must be at least four years of age before
harvested. All this creates ideal conditions for opportunistic fungi and a
fungal pathology called "root rot"Ñthe bane of ginseng farmers. For many years
agricultural extension agents have encouraged American ginseng farmers to
employ a variety of fungicides and other pesticides* on their ginseng to
prevent root rot and related problems. This practice is now also employed in
China in the production of both Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) and American ginseng grown in China from
seeds imported from the United States.
In November 1999 AHPA published a policy which included a
specific analysis for pesticides used in cultivated ginseng, including all
members of the genus Panax. In April
2005 when AHPA's vice president for scientific and technical affairs, Steven
Dentali, PhD, learned that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was using a
different analytical method, he conferred with the AHPA Analytical Labs
Committee for review of the FDA method and a recommendation on its potential
use by industry. Based on that committee's review and recommendations, the AHPA
Board in July amended AHPA's current trade recommendation on ginseng
pesticides, removing the identification of a specific analytical method for
pesticide analysis. The revised policy, which went into effect immediately,
follows:
AHPA recommends that processor and manufacturer members analyze
cultivated ginseng (Panax spp.) by an
appropriately validated analytical method at an appropriate and relevant limit
of detection for the presence of quintozene and related compounds, including
known degradants and impurities of quintozene,* and also for the presence of difenoconazole; and
further, that the analyses identified herein be performed by qualified
analytical labs using validated analytical methods; and further, that bulk lots
of ginseng be accompanied by a certificate that provides actual test results
for quintozene and its degradants, and for difenoconazole; and further, that in
lieu of analysis by the processor or manufacturer, the accompanying certificate
identified above may be accepted from a supplier provided that the processor or
manufacturer establishes the reliability of the supplier's analysis; provided
that, any cultivated ginseng that is produced in a manner that assures that the
ginseng is free of quintozene and related compounds and of difenoconazole is
exempted from this recommendation.1
*PCNB, quintozene; PCA, pentachloroaniline; PCTA,
pentachlorothioanisol; HCB, hexachlorobenzene; PCB, pentachlorobenzene;
alpha-BHC, alpha-benzenehexachloride; beta-BHC, beta-benzenehexachloride;
delta-BHC, delta-benzenehexachloride; gamma-BHC, gamma-benzenehexachloride
(lindane); TCA, tetrachloroaniline; and TCZ, technazene.
Quintozene (pentachloronitrobenzene, PCNB) is rated by
American and international organizations as a relatively mild toxic agent, a
fungicide. It is not classified as a human carcinogen according to the American
Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists.7 The Pesticide
Action Network rates quintozene as having "slight toxicity" due to the
possibility of consuming a relatively high level due to its use on many
different food crops.8 The World Health Organization's International
Programme on Chemical Safety states that quintozene is "unlikely to be
hazardous" and that it is a weak skin sensitizer, but not an irritant.9
The US Environmental Protection Agency classifies it as a Group C, possible
human carcinogen, and that "No information is available on the chronic
(long-term), reproductive, developmental, or carcinogenic effects of
pentachloronitrobenzene in humans."10
Quintozene is approved
for use in ginseng in Canada but it has not been registered for such use in the
United States. It has reportedly been used in Asian ginseng cultivation for the
past 30 years.11 Generally, only a relatively small amount of
quintozene remains on ginseng roots after they are harvested, so the amount of
quintozene ingested by a ginseng supplement or tea consumer is low, due to the
low level of the quintozene in the material and because of the relatively small
amount of herb material usually ingested as teas and dietary supplements, i.e.,
compared with conventional foods consumed as vegetables, with the most likely
human intake of quintozene coming from peanuts and leafy green vegetables. The
current FDA standard is for ginseng to be quintozene free; this is defined as
containing a level less than 0.01 parts per million, the current limit of
analytical detection.11 There is a small but growing movement in
North America to produce pesticide-free and/or organically-grown American
ginseng. Further, some herb suppliers have developed methods to remove
pesticides from cultivated ginseng roots before they are sold to manufacturers
for further processing into dietary supplements and other consumer products.
The acceptable level for these pesticides according to the FDA is the current
limit of analytical detection (10ppb or 0.001ppm). In the European Union the
legal limit for such pesticides is 1 ppm (part per million), according to
Volker Wypyszyk, CEO, MB North America, a supplier of quintozene-free ginseng
material through the affiliated company Finzelberg GmBH & Co. KG of the
Martin Bauer Group (W. Wypyszyk e-mail to M. Blumenthal, July 28, 2005).
An extensive article on quintozene is available on the Web
site of the Institute for Traditional Medicine.11 Members of the
herb industry can contact Steven Dentali, PhD, Vice-President of Scientific and
Technical Affairs, at AHPA to identify an appropriately validated analytical
method for testing their ginseng material for this purpose. He can be reached
at 301-588-1171 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting FREE 301-588-1171end_of_the_skype_highlighting ext.103 or sdentali@ahpa.org.
References
1.AHPA
Board Adopts New and Revised Trade Recommendations [press release]. Silver
Spring, MD: American Herbal Products Association. July 26, 2005.
2. McGuffin
M. Self Regulatory Initiatives by the Herbal Industry. HerbalGram. 2000;No. 48:42-43.
3. AHPA
Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. Silver Spring, MD: American Herbal Products
Association; July 2005. Available at:
http://www.ahpa.org/05_0700_CodeOfEthics_July2005.pdf. Accessed December 13,
2005.
4. Saper
RB, Kales SN, Paquin J, et al. Heavy Metal Content of Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine
Products. JAMA. 2004;292:2868-2873.
5. Foster
S. Goldenseal masking of drug tests: From fiction to fallacy, an historical
anomaly. HerbalGram. 1989:No. 21:7,35.
6. House
committee calls for federal legislation to ban drug test masking products. The
AHPA Report. June 2005:4-5.
7. American
Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. Documentation of the
threshold limit values and biological exposure indices. 7th ed. Cincinnati, OH;
2001:6. [Note: Abstract available at toxnet.nlm.nih.gov.]
8. Pesticide
Action Network. Toxicity Information for PCNB. Available at
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC35123#Toxicity.
Accessed December 10, 2005.
9. International
Program on Chemical Safety. Environmental Health Criteria 41. Quintozene.
Geneva: United Nations Environment Programme, International Labor Organization,
and World Health Organization, 1984. Available at:
http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc41.htm#SubSectionNumber:1.1.5. Accessed December 10, 2005.
10. EPA.
Technology Transfer Network Air Toxics Website. Hazard Summary.
Pentachloronitrobenzene (Quintozene). US Environmental Protection Agency.
January 2000. Available at:
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/quintoze.html#ref1. Accessed December 10,
2005.
11.Dharmananda
S. The source of quintozene residues in ginseng. Portland, OR: Institute for
Traditional Medicine; November 2001. Available at:
http://www.itmonline.org/arts/quintozene.htm. Accessed November 29, 2005.
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