GAO Finds Deceptive Marketing Claims for Herbal Supplements Used by Elderly
On May 26, 2010, the Government Accountability Office testified before the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging on the results of its investigation of the marketing to the elderly by storefront and mail-order retailers of chamomile, echinacea, garlic, ginkgo biloba, and ginseng as herbal dietary supplements,
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The GAO also sampled a number of single-ingredient herbal dietary supplements to determine if they were contaminated with harmful substances.
(According to the GAO, recent studies have shown that the use of herbal dietary supplements by the elderly, such as the five listed above, has increased substantially Sellers, such as retail stores, web sites, and distributors, often claim these supplements help improve memory, circulation, and other bodily functions. GAO was asked to determine (1) whether sellers of herbal dietary supplements are using deceptive or questionable marketing practices and (2) whether selected herbal dietary supplements are contaminated with harmful substances.)
GAO Found Certain Dietary Supplements Deceptively Marketed, Etc.
According to GAO, certain dietary supplements commonly used by the elderly were deceptively or questionably marketed. FDA statutes and regulations do not permit sellers to make claims that their products can treat, prevent, or cure specific diseases. However, in several cases, written sales materials for products sold through online retailers claimed that herbal dietary supplements could treat, prevent, or cure conditions such as diabetes, cancer, or cardiovascular disease.
In addition, while posing as elderly customers, GAO investigators were often told by sales staff that a given supplement would prevent or cure conditions such as high cholesterol or Alzheimer’s disease. GAO investigators were also given potentially harmful medical advice. For example, a seller stated it was not a problem to take ginkgo biloba with aspirin to improve memory; however, FDA warns that combining aspirin and ginkgo biloba can increase a person’s risk of bleeding. In another case, a seller stated that an herbal dietary supplement could be taken instead of a medication prescribed by a doctor. GAO referred these sellers to FDA and FTC for appropriate action.
Trace Amounts of Contaminants Found, But Levels Were Low Risk
GAO also found trace amounts of at least one potentially hazardous contaminant in 37 herbal dietary supplement products that were tested, though none in amounts considered to pose an acute toxicity hazard. All 37 supplements tested positive for trace amounts of lead; of those, 32 also contained mercury, 28 cadmium, 21 arsenic, and 18 residues from at least one pesticide. The levels of heavy metals found do not exceed any FDA or Environmental Protection Agency regulations governing dietary supplements or their raw ingredients, and FDA and EPA officials did not express concern regarding any immediate negative health consequences from consuming these supplements.
(GAO-10-662T)