June 8, 2000 The Associated Press
A Chinese herb in a weight-loss preparation damaged the kidneys of 105 patients at a Belgian clinic and apparently caused 18 cases of cancer among them, researchers say.
"Our findings reinforce the idea that the use of natural herbal medicine may not be without risk," Dr. Joelle L. Nortier of Hopital Erasme wrote in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The report shows how dangerous dietary supplements can be, and should help convince Congress that they should be regulated, Dr. David Kessler, former head of the Food and Drug Administration and now dean of Yale's medical school, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
The FDA announced Friday it is stopping the importation of herbs in the Aristolochia family because they had caused kidney failure in Belgium and in Britain, where they were being used to treat a skin condition.
Other cases of kidney damage from Chinese herbs have been reported in France, Spain, Japan and Taiwan, according to Nortier.
In Belgium, the herb was not listed among the ingredients of the weight-loss pills and was put into them by mistake, Nortier said.
Aristolochia fangchi's name in Chinese is similar to that of Stephania tetrandra, the herb that was supposed to be in the pills, and it often is substituted for the Stephania, according to Kessler.
"Since there is virtually no control over the quality of these products, it is not unusual not to know what is actually in herbal preparations and dietary supplements," he said.
The herb was in weight-loss pills prescribed in Belgium from 1990 to 1992, when Belgium banned Chinese herbs.
Since then, the hospital in Brussels has treated 105 patients for kidney damage and 43 of them for kidney failure, Nortier said.
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