The meeting was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and included manufacturers of herbal remedies, scientists and regulators. The herbal remedy industry acknowledges more testing is needed to determine whether certain health claims are justified but disagreed with regulators over who should pay for the studies and what type of medical claims should be allowed on the labels. Claims on herbal remedies are limited to those allowed for supplements unless manufacturers go through the costly and time-consuming process of having the product listed as a drug. Some attendees claimed FDA has resisted approving herbal remedies as over-the-counter drugs. Others cited studies describing adverse effects of some herbal remedies, noting many consumers do not regard these products as drugs, and label copy often does not mention possible side effects.
Herbal labeling?
In a late September meeting, there remained disagreement between the herbal remedy industry and regulators over what types of claims should be allowed on herbal remedies.
Oct 31st, 1998
