As health conscious people, these days, are gaining quick internet-knowledge from various vague web-pages, they are falling prey to all sorts of the pseudo-convincing ads, raking up their brains, through various marketing gimmicks and professional media. According to The New York Times, Americans spend an estimated $5 billion a year on unproven herbal supplements that promise everything from fighting off colds to curbing hot flashes and boosting memory. But now there is a new reason for supplement buyers to beware: DNA tests show that many pills labeled as healing herbs are little more than powdered rice and weeds. Some herbal remedies may do more harm than good. Researchers, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, report that 20 percent of herbal medicine products sampled contained dangerous levels of heavy metals. Some Ayurvedic herbal medicines and bhasma contain dangerously toxic heavy metals. As gullible consumers rely on the catchy-phrases for health benefits, printed on the label, they unknowingly risk their health and waste money by consuming these medicines.
It is a more human than academic responsibility of researchers, specialized in the relevant fields, to expose formulations of such so-called herbal medicines and supplements, alarming people against the lurking danger. It is also imperative on the part of drug control governmental agencies to take the stringent punitive actions against the erring pharmaceutical companies.
