WHO calls for greater consumer info on supplements
guidelines for national health authorities on ways to increase the
output of information on alternative and complementary medicines
for consumers.
The move has been prompted by data gathered by the WHO showing that adverse reactions to alternative medicines have more than doubled in three years, a rise in line with growing use of such medicines in both Western and developing countries.
Dr Zhang Xiaoirui, coordinator of the traditional medicines programme at WHO, told NutraIngredients.com: "Consumers have no knowledge on how to check on the quality of a product, how it was produced and whether its claims are reliable. Governments need to educate consumers on what to look out for."
She added that people buying natural remedies tend to assume that natural means safe. But in China, a country where traditional therapies and products are widely used in parallel with conventional medicine, there were 9,854 known reported cases of adverse drug reactions in 2002 alone,up from 4000 between 1990 and 1999.
The WHO Uppsala Monitoring Centre has also reported some cases of excess bleeding during a surgical operation as a result of patients taking ginkgo biloba, which could have been avoided had the patients informed their doctors of their use of the herbal.
The WHO guidelines, produced through consultation with more than 290 experts and government officials, suggest that consumers should be given information on the efficacy and safety of products as well as contraindications, probably through mass media campaigns and accessible outlets like the Internet.
Examples given by the report include leaflets issue by Hong Kong's department of health showing consumers how to evaluate products. The Swiss body Swissmedic also has a system of recognisable symbols that show government approval for certain products.
The guidelines also call for authorities to set up efficient channels for consumers to report adverse drug reactions.
"While the guidelines cannot compensate for poor products or inappropriatepractices, they can help governments educate consumers on how to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of traditional medicines," said the WHO statement.
Dr Zhang said that the guidelines were likely to be taken up by many governments, as more than 100 countries had taken part in their survey. WHO data also show that more and more national authorities are setting up regulations for natural products. "This trend is really good and shows that there is progress on this issue," she said.
She added that industry would benefit from these approaches, with increased government support for high quality products.
The new report is just one element of a wide-ranging scheme designed to improve quality standards and regulation of natural health products, according to Dr Zhang. The WHO is also due to issue a document on technical guidelines for checking for contaminants in these products in July.
