Why doesn't the FDA regulate herbal supplements?

For thousands of years, societies across the globe have used herbs as medicine. While this practice continues today, the FDA does not regulate these potent substances. Find out why the FDA can't regulate herbal supplements in this HowStuffWorks podcast.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know
from House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, welcome to the podcast.
That's Chuck. I'm Josh. This is the Stuff you should Know,
coming to you live from Studio one, a deep within
the bowels of How Stuff Works corporate headquarters in Atlanta,

(00:22):
Georgia's gross. Yeah, I like to do that once in
a right, Nice, Chuck. My father spent the better part
of the late nineties is kind of um well. He
took a lot of pills. Okay, they were all herbal.
They were all herbal supplements, mind you. But he would
take like um uppers in the morning, like herbal uppers. Interesting.

(00:43):
And then he'd take like herbal downers like two oh
twos or four or four as I can't remember what
they're called um in the evening, you know, to relax.
And I call him the herbal Elvis and uh and
I kid you not. He did this like he up
and down and up and down, and finally he kick
the habit. I guess, I don't know if he takes
I know he takes a lot of vitamins and stuff

(01:03):
but I think it's it's healthier. Um. And plus now
he's retired, he has less reason to wake up in
the morning as long as he didn't pass away on
the toilet, you know, he hasn't. He hasn't, and thank god.
But the thing is that it kind of points out
like herbs can really pack a punch, you know. UM.
Like take mahuiang for example, um mahuang, better known in

(01:28):
this country as a fedra or a phedron, which is
actually the alkaloid, the isolated alkaloid of mahuang, which actually
in Chinese means bitter yellow, mahuyang bitter yellow at points.
It's to the the color of this little evergreen shrub
in the horrible taste of its leaves. Um mahwang has

(01:49):
a terrible taste, bitter yellow taste. UM. So you know,
the Chinese have been using the shrub for like five
thousand years, right, and they're not really having a lot
of trouble with it. Um. It comes to the United
States and the nineties, and all of a sudden, between
like the early nineties and two thousand three, there's like

(02:10):
sixteen thousand cases of death and injury reported to the
Federal government. Right, you've got truckers and college students popping
white crosses. It's uh. They're also a key ingredient in
so I mean, what happens what happened, right? I mean
the Chinese will happen to stuff for five thousand years,

(02:31):
it comes to the US and within a decade, sixteen
thousand people dropped like flies. I'll tell you what happens.
Americans love to get high. It's as simple as that.
Abuse exactly. It's abuse. It's a lack of understands, the
lack of respect um to the Chinese. What what we
consider herbs they consider drugs, and what we consider herbs

(02:52):
we don't really fear. We find them all natural, we don't.
You know, it's not regulated by the FDA, so how
could it be harmful? That's one of the interesting things
that I think you pointed out was if something is
the more heavily something is regulated, the more people will
fear less something is regulated, the more they think it's
just fine. Exactly. Like think about how you perceive tile

(03:13):
and all, and then how you perceive taile and all three.
That's stuff with codeine, which is pretty much like eight
milligrams of taile and all think something like that, really
not that big of a difference. If you've ever taken them,
the difference isn't significant. But yet ones like under lock
and key behind you know, the pharmacists counter, and the
other ones is right out where God and everybody can

(03:34):
shoplift it exactly. So, I mean you perceive them as
different because they're regulated, because the government's like whoa, whoa,
whoa pal. You just need to kind of back off that.
With herbs, there's no regulation whatsoever. They don't even sell
them in the same place as the taile and all,
so they seem even less significant as far as the
health risks go. But that's not true. There's plenty of
herbs out there that are just crazy potent um like detera.

(03:59):
You know, you know what an angel's trumpet is? Uh No,
I don't. It's not an article. Don't boither looking for it.
You can find an angeal angels trumpet plant in um
just about any southern backyard. They have like these long
trumpet shaped flowers, hence the name um. And if you
eat one of those flowers within an hour, you will
be baying at the moon and beating up the cops

(04:21):
who come to arrescue. It will drive you nuts. And
this is just an ornamental plant in US, no one
has any clue about it. Sounds like, yeah, I've never
I've never had the gall to actually eat one because
I don't like eating grass, which is apparently another side effect.
I think you might have licked a toad or two
in your data. Well. Actually, I've seen warnings to gardeners

(04:42):
saying if you have an Angel's trumpet plant and you're
messing with it, especially the flowers, like do not rub
your eyes, wash your hand, it will send you on
a wild ride. It's interesting. That's just one of many
um monkshood. It's one of the most potent chemical compounds,
naturally occurring compounds known to man. Can kill you, oh
very easily, stop your stop your heart and lung function,

(05:03):
just from handling it. Yeah. So, I mean there's a
lot of potent herbs out there because they grow from
the ground. Right. Because we have been wean we've been
at the forefront of modern medicine, we kind of disregard herbs.
That's another one that was an interesting one, wasn't Yeah,
that's the hallucinogenic uh. And I think you mentioned Jamestown

(05:24):
in your article. Yeah, detachment of the Jamestown Colony militia
ate a bunch of that, and it's salad. Uh, and
we just went crazy. We're just basically tripping for several days.
I think the guy who described it said they turned
to natural fools upon it for several days. So all
but that was quite a shock to them. Yeah, but yeah,

(05:45):
they didn't get a lot of work done those days.
But Okay, so I think we've established the argument that
herbs are potent very much. And the problem is as
Americans don't have a an ingrained respect for their potency
as do some of the older cultures. Right and beyond
that Americans, Uh, in the in the nineteen nineties and

(06:05):
uh into the two thousands, uh, traditional Chinese medicine became
more and more popular. So not only are these herbs
packing a punch and not regulated, but people really started
getting into it. Yeah, and and uh, what's the one St.
John's wort? You know, people think that these are just
cure alls. Well, and and it's not that they're not.

(06:26):
It's not that they don't have properties. This isn't like
snake oil that we're talking about. Um, it's that since
they're not regulated since they're not really looked into. Uh,
you have to effectively self medicate or listen to some
jerk at the health food store who may or may
not have any idea what he or she's talking about. Right, Um,
so it can be kind of dangerous. The problem is

(06:48):
is because of you know, the the arrogance of Western
medicine that it's the only true, viable and effective medicine. UM.
People pick up on that. So when people started taking herbs,
just average Joe's patients will call them um when they
started taking herbs. A two thousand three survey found that

(07:09):
seventy of people who take herbs don't tell their doctors
about them, right, because they're afraid they're going to be
told to not take them anymore. Right, which is a
which is a good fear, because you know, doctors don't
understand herbs anymore than the guy at the health food
store doesn't probably last. Um. So you've got that problem
and as a result, this thing called complimentary and alternative
medicine came about. It was basically saying, look, people are

(07:32):
running around taking herbs. We need to incorporate these other
medicines into western modern medicine. And see what we can do.
It's probably a good idea. It was a great idea
because traditional medicines generally are best at curing chronic diseases,
are handling chronic diseases, whereas western modern medicine is best
at acute diseases or acute you know, uh, conditions. So

(07:54):
my rule of thumb has always been rheumatoid arthreadis traditional medicine, right,
shot in the leg? You want to go with the
western medicine? Yeah, so gunshot wounded, Western medicine a good rule.
Rheumatoid arth threats, Yeah, do you want to go with
the traditional mission. So there was a movement to incorporate
these two. Uh. And the problem is is again, doctors

(08:17):
don't know any more about herbs than you or I,
and doctors can get sued a lot more easily if
they say take this herb and the person dies. If
we say that, we're just like, oh man, sorry I
didn't do that. Doctors like, okay, well there goes my practice.
Um So, of course doctors aren't going to recommend the stuff.
So c am cam never took off at all. And

(08:39):
um so, why why wouldn't the FDA regulate herbs? Well? Uh,
I think the research you found or you posited was
that urban ingredients, UM and supplements don't have to be
classified as drugs their dietary supplements. No, that's exactly right,
and this came about through the Dietary Supplement Health and

(09:00):
Education Act, which was issued in which is right. When
this stuff is really gearing up, there are a lot
of questions like should the FDA get involved in the
government said no, not only that, we're gonna put herbs
squarely out of the FDA's jurisdiction. See with UM any
kind of pharmaceutical, even even in over over the counter

(09:22):
drug Are we talking about approval here? Yeah, where you
and I would have to basically test these compounds testimon
rats and then you know, possibly other primates and then
moved human trials. It costs millions of dollars, and not
necessarily to the pharmaceutical companies. They get a lot of
their research done for free by universities. But it does

(09:42):
somebody's putting in millions. If not, you know, tens of
millions of dollars and an average of eight and a
half years to get it to the FDA for approval.
And the FDA either says no or they say yes,
and then they decreate as a controlled substance like a pharmaceutical,
prescribed pharmacy or over the counter. Right right. I thought
it was interesting that you you the fact that only

(10:05):
point one percent of compounds first tested received FDA approval.
That is way way low. Yeah, and I mean completely
I have to go back to the drawing board. But
you have to prove step by step that this is
not harmful to humans before the FDA approves it. What
the Dietary Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, the d

(10:25):
s h g A basically says, is not anymore, not
with herbal, not with herbal supplements. Yeah, these shoes. On
the other foot, the FDA has to prove that these
herbs are harmful before they can get them taken off
the shelves. And basically they have to prove that the
herb poses a a significant health risk or an imminent

(10:46):
public health risk, public safety risk. Yeah. And I bet
that FDA only gets involved if there are you know
a bunch of cases where this happens. Yeah, yeah, I mean,
like think about right exactly. Um So, and it's a
really long process. It's a really involved process, and the
FDA like most other federal agencies, is perennially understaffed and underfunded,

(11:10):
so it can be very difficult to get something taken
off the market, even if it is, you know, hurting
people in the meantime, it stays on the market until
they can you know, draw that line exactly. So, um,
there there are some limitations to it to what a
dietary supplement. Herbal manufacturers can say. One thing they can't
do is they can't say that their, um, their products treat, cure,

(11:35):
or mitigate a disease right now. This is how they
market themselves. Correct. Yes, yeah, So for example, uh, somebody
who who manufactures an herbal supplement with passion flower, Uh,
they can't say that the product treats anxiety. Instead, they
can say something like it quiets an anxious mind, right,
which to me sounds a lot like the old nineteenth

(11:57):
century tonic commercials Tonic every times like Heroin. It quiets
the anxious mind kind of thing. You know. It sounds
a lot like that, and it gets the same point
across as well. You're basically saying anxious anxiety, same thing quiets,
cures whatever. Um. There's also one other thing that that
you you can't use ingredients that are already banned. UM.

(12:20):
In April two thousand and seven, a Chinese product called
sang Jong Zoo tong Tan I believe that's what it's called.
Probably just butchered it um. It was taken off the
market in the US because it contained human placenta. So
the FDA does have some teeth her there. But for
the most part, if you and I want to go
somewhere and you know, manufacture it, we can sell them

(12:44):
to our hearts content, kill a bunch of people, make
a lot of money, and then get out before the
FDA can ever say, bood kick back on the beach somewhere.
Let's go do it with life. Yeah. So, if you
want to find out more about herbal supplements, the FDA,
all sorts of other stuff, just go check it all out.
Use our handy search bar at how stuff works dot com.
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(13:09):
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