<br><font size=4 face="Georgia">Study Finds Supplements Contain Contaminants</font>

<br><font size=1 color=#808080 face="Arial">By </font><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/gardiner_harris/index.html?inline=nyt-per"><font size=1 color=#004276 face="Arial">GARDINER

HARRIS</font></a>

<br><font size=1 color=#808080 face="Arial">Published: May 25, 2010</font>

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<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Nearly all of the herbal </font><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/dietarysupplementsandherbalremedies/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>dietary

supplements</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"> tested in a Congressional

investigation contained trace amounts of lead and other contaminants, and

some supplement sellers made illegal claims that their products can cure

</font><a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/cancer/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>cancer</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">

and other diseases, investigators found.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The levels of heavy metals — including mercury,

cadmium and arsenic — did not exceed thresholds considered dangerous,

the investigators found. However, 16 of the 40 supplements tested contained

pesticide residues that appeared to exceed legal limits, the investigators

found. In some cases, the government has not set allowable levels of these</font><a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/pesticides/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>pesticides</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">

because of a paucity of scientific research.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Investigators found at least nine products

that made apparently illegal health claims, including a product containing

ginkgo biloba that was labeled as a treatment for</font><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/info/alzheimers-disease/?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>Alzheimer’s

disease</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"> and a product containing

ginseng labeled as a treatment to prevent</font><a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/diabetes/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>diabetes</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">

and cancer. They also described a salesperson at a supplement specialty

store who claimed that a garlic supplement could be taken instead of </font><a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/test/blood-pressure/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>blood

pressure</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">medication.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Any product that claims to treat, cure, prevent

or mitigate a disease is considered a drug and must go through strict regulatory

reviews.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The report, which was prepared by the </font><a href=http://www.gao.gov/><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>Government

Accountability Office</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">, was provided

to The New York Times and will be made public at a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

Its release comes two weeks before the Senate is scheduled to begin debate

on a landmark</font><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/food_safety/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>food

safety</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"> bill that is expected to

substantially increase the federal government’s authority over food manufacturers.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">But it is uncertain how tough the bill will

be on supplement manufacturers, and it has been the subject of fierce lobbying.

Capitol Hill staff members familiar with the process said the bill was

unlikely to include provisions opposed by supplement manufacturers.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, principal deputy

commissioner of the </font><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/food_and_drug_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>Food

and Drug Administration</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">, said in

an interview that he was not concerned about the safety of the supplements

tested by the G.A.O. investigators. But Dr. Sharfstein noted that the agency

had recently announced a </font><a href=http://www.fda.gov/newsevents/newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm210448.htm><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>recall

of Vita Breath</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">, a dietary supplement

that it said might contain hazardous levels of lead.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Steve Mister, president of the Council for

Responsible Nutrition, a trade association representing the dietary supplement

industry, said it was not surprising that herbal supplements contained

trace amounts of heavy metals, because these are routinely found in soil

and plants. “I don’t think this should be of concern to consumers,”

Mr. Mister said.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Senator Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat who

will preside over Wednesday’s hearing of the Senate Special Committee

on Aging, said that while improvements had been made in recent years in

the oversight of supplements, “the F.D.A. needs the authority and tools

to ensure that dietary supplements are as safe and effective as is widely

perceived by the Americans who take them.”</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Among the witnesses at the hearing will be

Dr. Tod Cooperman, president of<a href=http://www.consumerlab.com/><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial">ConsumerLab.com</a><font size=2 face="Arial">,

a company that has tested over 2,000 dietary supplements made by more than

300 manufacturers and has found that one in four have quality problems.

According to Dr. Cooperman’s written testimony, the most common problems

are supplements that lack adequate quantities of the indicated ingredients

and those contaminated with heavy metals.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Travis T. Tygart, chief executive of the

</font><a href=http://www.usantidoping.org/><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>United

States Anti-Doping Agency</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">, wrote

a letter to the committee saying that some athletes have been rendered

ineligible for international competitions because they took supplements

that contained </font><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/steroids/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>steroids</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">

not listed on the products’ labels. There are thousands of supplements

available for sale that contain steroids or other harmful ingredients,

he wrote.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">“The F.D.A. is operating in a regulatory

environment that is simply too burdensome to allow for effective post-market

regulation of these products,” Mr. Tygart wrote.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Half of the nation’s adult population takes

vitamin supplements regularly, and about a quarter take herbal supplements

at least occasionally. Annual sales are about $25 billion a year, and the

growing popularity has led to an increasing number of imported supplements

spiked with illegal drugs.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">In 1994, Congress passed legislation that

allowed supplement makers to sell products without first getting approval

from the F.D.A. for their ingredients or for basic health claims. But scientific

organizations have warned repeatedly since then that the F.D.A. should

do more to ensure that the supplements are safe and that their health claims

are substantiated.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">In recent years, a vast majority of supplement

suppliers have located overseas — principally in China. Nearly all of

the </font><a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/vitamin-c/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>vitamin

C</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"> and many other supplements consumed

in the United States are made from ingredients made in Chinese plants.

Those plants are almost never inspected by the F.D.A. because the agency

is not required to do so, has little money to do so and does not view the

plants as particularly risky.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Mr. Mister said supplement sellers tested

ingredients before using them, but he agreed that testing could not ensure

quality. He called on Congress to provide the F.D.A. with more money to

inspect foreign and domestic supplement plants. “I think you’ll see more

and more inspections,” Mr. Mister said.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">He said that a few companies made illegal

health claims for their supplements, but that the industry was trying to

police those. “I occasionally see these late-night commercials with health

claims that make my blood boil,” he said.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Dr. Sharfstein said the F.D.A. had increased

enforcement actions against supplements spiked with prescription drugs

like <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/viagra_drug/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial">Viagra</a><font size=2 face="Arial">.

And he said the agency had taken action against supplement makers that

made broad health claims. “We don’t want people to think they’re treating

a disease with something that hasn’t been proven to do that,” he said.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The food safety bill expected to be introduced

next month in the Senate is likely to mandate that supplement makers register

annually with the F.D.A. and allow the agency to recall supplements suspected

of being dangerous.</font>

<br><font size=2 face="Arial">But a House provision that would require

manufacturers to create plans to safely manufacture their products and

a proposal made in February by Senators </font><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_mccain/index.html?inline=nyt-per"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>John

McCain</a><font size=2 face="Arial">, Republican of Arizona,

and </font><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/byron_l_dorgan/index.html?inline=nyt-per"><font size=2 color=#004276 face="Arial"><u>Byron

L. Dorgan</a><font size=2 face="Arial">, Democrat of North Dakota,

to restrict supplements to ingredients approved by the F.D.A. will not

be included, staff members said.</font>

<br><font size=1 color=#aaaaaa face="Arial">A version of this article appeared

in print on May 26, 2010, on page A15 of the New York edition.</font>