At its annual meeting in late June, the American Medical Assn. adopted a resolution to encourage the use of the word "herbal" in the names of herbal supplements, and to discourage them from being packaged and advertised to resemble prescription drugs.
A Reuters Health report seen on Yahoo! News said, "The herbal packaging policy, approved by the AMA House of Delegates, directs AMA leadership to urge Congress to modify the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act to require those promoting herbal remedies to prove their efficacy and safety and to force the herbal remedies to list product ingredients on packages."
Confusing the issue, the American Herbal Products Assn., says smart consumers already know the difference. Even the AMA agrees some packages have to look alike due to tamper-evident features or childproof containers.
--By Jim Chrzan, Publisher
