Dangerous herbal preparations being sold by web shops].

Sonja van de Koppel, Martin Kooijman, Dana Ohana, Florence P A M van Hunsel

Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde 2022 Mar 09

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A large number of herbal preparations are offered on the internet. Some of these may contain substances not listed on the label. When these are illegal "regular" drugs, this can lead to serious side effects. In January 2021, The Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb received 4 reports of side effects after using the herbal preparation Montalin® from Indonesia. Laboratory analysis showed that effective amounts of paracetamol and meloxicam were also present in this herbal preparation. These have been added illegally and are not listed on the packaging. The five web shops that sold this product were ordered to immediately stop trading by order of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). Consumers should be careful when purchasing herbal preparations over the internet. It is not always clear what is in it. Certainly if a clear effect is experienced, it may be that (illegally) effective amounts of pharmacologically active substances have been added.

Citation

Sonja van de Koppel, Martin Kooijman, Dana Ohana, Florence P A M van Hunsel. Dangerous herbal preparations being sold by web shops]. Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde. 2022 Mar 09;166