SALALAH, Oct 29 - There is an urgent need to set protocols and guidelines to address the menace of counterfeit herbal medicines that cause various health problems among the users. The menace is getting more pronounced due to easy e-commerce marketability, payment and delivery platforms.
Dr Sharifa al Jabri, Head of Quality Assurance and Medication Safety, Directorate General of Pharmaceutical Affairs and Drugs Control, Ministry of Health, gave a thought provoking presentation on the prevalence of counterfeit and illegally manufactured drugs and herbal medicines that have become a widespread threat to the public’s health.
She cited World Health Organisation’s (WHO) concern over the issue and said, “according to the WHO definition, a counterfeit drug is a medicine which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and or source. Illegitimate manufacturers in herbal shops produce hand-made counterfeit herbal supplements without any quality and purity standards under the authority of regulatory systems.”
“Counterfeit and illegally manufactured drugs and herbal medicines are causing widespread threat to the public health, as Internet sales have simplified the distribution and payment of these falsified drugs,” said Dr Sharifa in a presentation done at the First International Meeting on Frankincense and Medicinal plants held at Dhofar University.
Such drug dealers somehow create a sense of “full cure without any side effects” among the patients. “The gullible patients fall into the common belief that herbal drugs are safe without any side effects. As a result many patients take herbal supplements and rely on what they say about their products,” she said.
She drew people’s attention towards the fact that most of the counterfeit herbal medicines have illegally added synthetic drug elements being sold as dietary supplements and marketed as “helpful in reducing weight, gaining weight, muscle-building and even for sexual performance enhancement.”
“As such we should not neglect the safety aspect of the adulterated products by the illegal addition of pharmaceutical substances or their analogs. It is a major concern since bad practices can falsify these products to provide quick effect and to increase their sales,” she said.
These counterfeit and adulterated herbal drugs, according to her, are mislabelled as ‘natural products’, which send a false sense of certainty among the patients with a potential and hidden risk of poisoning.
She called for urgent global intervention in terms of protocols and guidelines, as there has been continuous increase in production of herbal supplements and drugs globally and there is growing demand for safe and effective drugs that are used treat many diseases.
“Therefore it is necessary to set protocols and guidelines from regulatory authorities to address the menace of herbal medicines that cause various health problems for the users,” she emphasised.
Kaushalendra Singh
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