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What;'s in your bottle of herbal supplement pills?

11 years ago

Probably not what the label claims, according to the N.Y. Attorney General's office.

"If you are looking to herbal supplements to help improve your memory or vitality or help you to sleep, you may want to save your money. The New York State attorney general's office is asking four major retailers (GNC, Target, Walmart and Walgreens) to stop selling herbal supplements after tests found that many of them did not contain the herbs listed on their labels.

In a press release, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said DNA tests were run on supplements claiming to contain ginko (biloba), St. John's wort, ginseng and echinacea. Samples of the supplements were purchased from various locations around New York, and each sample was tested five times. In four out of five cases, the tests showed that the pills contained nothing more than fillers such as asparagus, rice, wheat or houseplants.

"This investigation makes one thing abundantly clear: the old adage 'buyer beware' may be especially true for consumers of herbal supplements," said Schneiderman. He added that the herbal supplements "also pose unacceptable risks to New York families, especially those with allergies to hidden ingredients."

Some of the retailers (like Target and Walmart) say they're removing the suspect products from their shelves. Meantime, a supplement industry trade group is denouncing the investigation as a "sting" and a "publicity stunt".

This latest news comes after years of warnings and recalls over mislabeled, contaminated and adulterated supplements, while consumer groups caution about risks due to underregulation of the $30 billion dollar supplement industry.

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