Economically Motivated Adulteration of Botanical Raw Materials, Herbal Extracts, and Essential Oils in the Global Marketplace

The trade of botanical ingredients for the production of herbal drugs and phytomedicines, dietary supplements, and natural cosmetics is global, with supply and quality issues in one geographical region affecting other areas. Chemical complexity of botanicals requires added quality control diligence for raw material suppliers and manufacturers. In recent years there have been numerous cases of accidental misidentification of botanical materials due to nomenclatural confusion, lack of adequate quality control measures, etc. Also, there have been persistent cases of inadvertent contamination with heavy metals, agricultural chemicals, excessive microbial load, excessive solvent levels in extracts, etc. But there is also the disturbing trend of intentional adulteration – economically motivated adulteration (EMA) – as well as the „spiking“ of extracts with undisclosed lower-quality and lower-cost ingredients. This includes the spurious and illegal addition of active pharmaceutical ingredients (conventional pharmaceutical drugs), e.g., sildenafil in dietary supplement products for erectile dysfunction and sibutramine in weight-loss products. This presentation reviews many of these quality control challenges and notable cases of safety concerns and economic fraud created by them as is being compiled American Botanical Council and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia from information supplied by botanical ingredient suppliers, manufacturers, and laboratories in the United States and in other countries.