Manufacturers aren't allowed to make any therapeutic claims on the labels of foods. But that also means they aren't required to provide any information about contraindications or side effects. Information that would be required if they were drugs. Alison McCutcheon is a botanist who does research on the pharmacological effects of plants and sits on a Health Canada scientific advisory committee on herbs. She thinks there is a dangerous misconception that herbs are safe because they are natural products .
People think they can take as much as they want without any problems.
She says herbal remedies need to be regulated as medicines to ensure better information on labels. For example, there are lots of herbs that shouldn't be taken during pregnancy because they can spontaneously induce an abortion. There are other herbal remedies such as chapparal, comfrey and germander that are known to cause liver toxicity in some people. Last fall a Quebec woman suffered such irreversible damage after taking germander, that she had to have a liver transplant. But, consumers might be completely unaware of the risk because very often the information is not on the label.