Is it necessary to determine the heavy metals and mycotoxin in herbal products?
People believe generally that herbal and natural products are safer than the synthetic or modern medicines but several cases of adverse effects of herbal drugs have been reported in developed countries during the last few years, which are allegedly caused by taking herbal products or traditional medicines. Herbal products may be contaminated with excessive banned pesticides, microbial contaminants, heavy metals and chemical toxins which cause various deformities like congenital paralysis, sensori-neural defects, liver and kidney damage etc. Thus herbal medicine has led the concerns relating to its safety, quality and effectiveness specially for ‘bhasmas’ as these are usually made of heavy metals like arsenic, mercury, copper, zinc, gold and silver. Therefore, contamination of herbal drugs with heavy metals is of prime concern. Recently a study conducted by Harvard Medical School on Indian ayurvedic medicines, published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that