Lack of Regulation of Chinese herbal remedies
February 23, 2010
Posted by:Caroline Klage
The recent trial at the Old Bailey of Ying "Susan" Wu has highlighted the lack of regulation of the sale of Chinese herbal remedies. Ms Wu stood trial for selling pills containing aristolochic acid to Patricia Booth. Ms Booth bought the pills at Ms Wu's Chinese Herbal Medicine Centre in Chelmford to treat a skin condition on her face and took the pills daily for several years. The pills had been advertised as being "safe and natural". Ms Booth went on to suffer kidney failure and cancer of the urinary tract, which she alleges was caused by taking the pills. Experts at Kew Gardens analysed the pills and found that they contained aristolochic acident which is now a banned substance in the UK and is highly toxic.
The judge at the Old Bailey highlighted the fact that the sale of traditional Chinese herbal remedies was totally unregulated. Although Ms Wu pleaded guilty to selling the pills, the judge accepted that she had done so without knowing she was breaking the law. The Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine is calling for the statutory regulation of herbal medicine in the UK.
Back in 2006, doctors writing in the Lancet warned of the dangers of unregulated Chinese herbal medicine and referred to the case of a man who took a Chinese herbal remedy which contained aristolochia to enhance the performance of his liver. The man in question started to pass blood in his urine. Further investigations revealed he had tumours in his bladder. He, like Patricia Booth also suffered kidney failure. Both conditions were attributed to the taking of aristolochia.