The Good and Bad Sides of Herbal Medicines

This is an article from Neal H. Cruz's "As I See It" - The Philippine Daily Inquirer

Friday, January 8, 2010

WE HAVE RECEIVED MANY COMPLAINTS about herbal medicines being advertised and sold. We have also been offered these herbs, complete with anecdotal stories about the scores of people that the “miraculous” herbs have “cured.” Some time ago, I read a story in the papers that Health Secretary Francisco Duque had ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the claims of those companies manufacturing, advertising and selling herbal medicines to guide the public. The people may be misled by the extravagant claims, he said. At a forum of the Kapihan sa Manila the FDA head assured me that they were testing the efficacy of the herbal medicines being sold. That was a long time ago, but until now the FDA has not released any of its findings, if any.

The rise of the herbal medicines started during the term of a previous health secretary who used to be a country doctor. Because of the high cost of medicines, his administration encouraged the sale of medicinal herbs which can be had for free in the countryside.

Of course, herbal medicines have been used in China for decades but it is still new in the Philippines.
The herbal revolution started with ampalaya leaves as a “cure” against diabetes, supposedly after a test made by a doctor. The health department seized on this and immediately boarded the ampalaya bandwagon. It turned out that the sampling was very limited and the ampalaya leaves came only from a small farm on Mt. Makiling. And there was—and still is—no proof that they can cure diabetes. I asked endocrinologists about this and they all shook their heads.

But there was no stopping the herbal bandwagon. Other herbal medications purporting to “cure” the most deadly diseases: cancer, heart disease, high-blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, name the disease and there is a herbal medicine for it.

The public has looked to the FDA and the health department to guide them on the use of herbals. But there was no such guidance, and there being none, not even any warnings, the people embraced the sales pitch of the herbal companies. Companies producing, promoting and selling herbal medicines sprouted like mushrooms. And judging from their frequent newspaper advertisements, television commercials using celebrity endorsers, and giant billboards, these companies must be raking it in. After all, what were they selling but leaves and herbs that they gather almost free from the countryside. Yet these are sold at handsome prices in different forms: capsules, tablets, liquid, tea leaves, etc.

Every few months, a new flavor of the month, a “miraculous” plant from some exotic place, emerges and is promoted by their sellers like they were the Black Nazarene of Quiapo. One time it was mahogany seeds, another time it was an exotic fruit whose name I cannot remember. After a few months, these “miraculous” cures were forgotten, only to be replaced by others.

It turned out that some of these are toxic. A journalist friend (of all people) habitually chewed on mahogany seeds. It lowered his blood pressure, he said. The mahogany seeds did not only lower his blood pressure, it stopped his heart. The seeds were toxic, the health department found out later. But it was too late. He was dead.

My sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas and she was told to undergo chemotherapy. Instead, she was persuaded by a friend to take a herbal concoction. In the beginning, she claimed she was feeling better, but she died soon after. Of course, it could have been the cancer that killed her but that is the trouble with herbals. Because of the extravagant claims of their promoters without any scientific basis, many patients forego the advice of doctors and take their chances with herbals.

It is the responsibility of the government to guide the people on whether or not certain medications are good or bad for their health. We have the FDA for that. But the herbal companies escape government scrutiny by putting on the packages of their herbal medicines, “No therapeutic claims,” meaning they are not making any claims that their herbs have any therapeutic value.

But that is exactly what their advertisements and commercials and literature do: they claim that their herbs cure any disease known to man: cancer, heart disease, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, rheumatism, fever, diarrhea, women’s diseases, etc. They were like the “snake oil” of old that traveling salesmen sold door to door after performing some magic tricks and acrobatic acts in the street to attract a crowd. Actually, the snake oil was nothing but colored coconut oil scented with menthol and had no curative value at all.

The FDA claims it has no jurisdiction over herbals because they are not medicines but food supplements. But they are being sold as medicines and in capsule, tablet, liquid forms or as tea. They are sold in drug stores; they are packaged as regular medicines; they are endorsed by doctors and other celebrities.

There should be a law to punish any endorser of a medicine, herbal or regular, that brings harm to any patient.

The DOH and FDA are being negligent by not investigating the herbals more closely. They should outlaw the sale of these herbals until each and every one of them has been tested as to the truth of their claims. And if any of them harms a patient, the company and endorsers should be punished and made to pay damages to the patient or his family.

These irresponsible herbal companies are happily raking it in without facing any consequences if they made a mistake. It is time we changed that and protected the public.