© NY AG's office
Buffalo, New York
- New York State wants certain herbal supplements pulled from store shelves. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said
four major retailers sell supplements that have contaminants not identified on ingredient labels.Schneiderman's office said mislabeled consumer products are posing unacceptable health hazards. They are calling on GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart to make some changes.
DNA tests revealed, overall, 21 percent of the test results from store brand herbal supplements verified DNA from the plants listed on the products labeled.
Walmart had the poorest showing for DNA matching the products listed with only four percent, according to Schneiderman.
Details from Schneiderman below:
GNC:- Six "Herbal Plus" brand herbal supplements per store were purchased and analyzed: Gingko Biloba, St. John's Wort, Ginseng, Garlic, Echinacea, and Saw Palmetto. Purchased from four locations with representative stores in Binghamton, Harlem, Plattsburgh & Suffolk.
- Only one supplement consistently tested for its labeled contents: Garlic. One bottle of Saw Palmetto tested positive for containing DNA from the saw palmetto plant, while three others did not. The remaining four supplement types yielded mixed results, but none revealed DNA from the labeled herb.
- Of 120 DNA tests run on 24 bottles of the herbal products purchased, DNA matched label identification 22% of the time.
- Contaminants identified included asparagus, rice, primrose, alfalfa/clover, spruce, ranuncula, houseplant, allium, legume, saw palmetto, and Echinacea.
Target:- Six "Up & Up" brand herbal supplements per store were purchased and analyzed: Gingko Biloba, St. John's Wort, Valerian Root, Garlic, Echinacea, and Saw Palmetto. Purchased from three locations with representative stores in Nassau County, Poughkeepsie, and Syracuse.
- Three supplements showed nearly consistent presence of the labeled contents: Echinacea (with one sample identifying rice), Garlic, and Saw Palmetto. The remaining three supplements did not reveal DNA from the labeled herb.
- Of 90 DNA tests run on 18 bottles of the herbal products purchased, DNA matched label identification 41% of the time.
- Contaminants identified included allium, French bean, asparagus, pea, wild carrot and saw palmetto.
Walgreens:- Six "Finest Nutrition" brand herbal supplements per store were purchased and analyzed: Gingko Biloba, St. John's Wort, Ginseng, Garlic, Echinacea, and Saw Palmetto. Purchased from three locations with representative stores in Brooklyn, Rochester and Watertown.
- Only one supplement consistently tested for its labeled contents: Saw Palmetto. The remaining five supplements yielded mixed results, with one sample of garlic showing appropriate DNA. The other bottles yielded no DNA from the labeled herb.
- Of the 90 DNA test run on 18 bottles of herbal products purchased, DNA matched label representation 18% of the time.
- Contaminants identified included allium, rice, wheat, palm, daisy, and dracaena (houseplant).
Walmart:- Six "Spring Valley" brand herbal supplements per store were purchased and analyzed: Gingko Biloba, St. John's Wort, Ginseng, Garlic, Echinacea, and Saw Palmetto. Purchased from three geographic locations with representative stores in Buffalo, Utica and Westchester.
- None of the supplements tested consistently revealed DNA from the labeled herb. One bottle of garlic had a minimal showing of garlic DNA, as did one bottle of Saw Palmetto. All remaining bottles failed to produce DNA verifying the labeled herb.
- Of the 90 DNA test run on 18 bottles of herbal products purchased, DNA matched label representation 4% of the time.
- Contaminants identified included allium, pine, wheat/grass, rice mustard, citrus, dracaena (houseplant), and cassava (tropical tree root).
Reader Comments
Let the fearmongering begin!
Allium in garlic supplements? I should hope so!
If they didn't contain allium, I'd be concerned!
DNA Bar coding isn't a valid test for herbal supplements. Not even close!
Those things listed as "contaminants" are at least in some cases the active ingredients if not safer fillers than PEG, titanium dioxide & so on not listed, yet found in just about every drug (OTC or prescription) on the market!
The AG's office used an invalid testing method to determine the contents, based on fundamental science.
To make a broad-sweeping statement, then call for action based on flawed testing techniques &based on a lack of proper testing was irresponsible on the AGNY's part.
To again label nutritional supplements here in this supposedly" unbiased" forum is equally irresponsible. Had this article been lab led something like "AGNY calls to recall supplements" would be unbiased. To say the supplements in question are unequivocally not what they say they are based on a flawed testing method a lab did for the AG of NY is clearly at least an uneducated assertion, if not liable.
I hope these companies that are legit (& I have no reason to believe any of them are not) go after those spreading garbage about them based on a grossly misleading statement based on flawed science.
*REALLY?* Allium found in garlic supplements??? That should've been the author's 1st clue! (I should hope the author looks these things up before making this sort of headline, yet doing so now & altering the title of this article might be a good idea! It might keep this media outlet from being sued... maybe?) An apology might make nice too.
Sad that people don't know what's in supplements (or medications... do you ever wonder what the fillers are in your medications that CLEARLY weigh more than the dosage? If not, go take a look in your medicine chest... right now!)
Hopefully this error the AG of NY made will be used to educate people about things they put into their bodies & not a snuff job on herbal medicine or unfair labeling forced onto herbal medicine compounders (creators).
If you ran the wrong test for say cholesterol in someone's blood, you might conclude they had little or no HDLs, LDLs or triglycerides! The wrong tests were clearly used here & active ingredients of herbs that are listed tested positive as "contaminants". PLEASE LOOK UP ALLIUM. & the other "contaminants"!
Hopefully this will be educational for those who don't know what herbal medicines are!
If we had adequate labeling on foods & regular medications, we'd likely be a healthier country!
How many know that B-12 shots from their doctors, nurse practitioners, etc. labled" cyanocobalamin" contains cyanide???
Do you know alcohol is in many immunizations & other shots (to be fair, it's necessary, but did that get your attention that your kids may be getting alcohol in some of their shots???) I'll bet you weren't told that!
I can't believe this test was used out of context, with little to no scientific evidence to support it AND that those experts in the herbal medicine community were not consulted.
The AG stepped WAY out of line on this issue, as did the current title of this article.
Here goes the witch hunt all over again!
It's sad only a few states provide insurance that covers nutrition & natural medicine or Naturopathic physicians. Even sadder that something so basic in science was used so wrong & herbal medicine is the basis for so many medications, yet the roots of those drugs that fill the PDR isn't taught in medical schools.
The individual(s) that made such outrageous assumptions about their DNA tests need to go back to school & learn the fundamentals. They may have a difficult time finding employment after this mess.
It seems like the AG is fulfilling the role of making people not want to take supplements.