Ayurvedic caution
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Traditional Ayurvedic products may contain harmful metals and usually are not reviewed by FDA prior to sale, the agency says in an Oct. 16 consumer health article. FDA cites a study in the August Journal of the American Medical Association that shows one-fifth of Ayurvedic remedies made in India and the U.S. and purchased online contain lead, mercury or arsenic that exceeds acceptable daily metal intake levels (1"The Tan Sheet" Sept. 1, 2008, p. 6). FDA has kept an import alert on certain Ayurvedic products since 2007, "but individual Internet purchases are harder to monitor," says Michael Levy, director of the Office of Compliance's Division of New Drugs and Labeling Compliance in the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in the article