It is almost a perennial problem for most regulatory agencies on how to curtail the proliferation of supplements tainted with steroids or containing other harmful ingredients such as mercury. Some pharmaceutical companies have not implemented stringent and good manufacturing practices. They are only after the profit and don’t care about the possible health risks that may be caused by their product to the consuming public. In the country, the FDA has launched a campaign against these steroid laced supplements. The “Supplement Safety Now Campaign” was supported by most pharmaceutical companies producing clean and safe products. They also want to clean their industry of unscrupulous businessmen who were giving the entire industry a bad reputation. A new bill was also passed in the senate to help the FDA and DEA become more effective in protecting the consumer against supplements with harmful ingredients.

Other countries, especially most Asian countries are also experiencing the same problem. There are already several cases where supplement products manufactured locally or imported from other countries were found to contain steroids or steroid like contents. These prompted the regulatory agencies to intensify their campaign against these supplements by implementing new rules or policies that will help monitor, control or stop the distribution of products which are considered unsafe to the consumers.

In India, the government will now require all pharmaceutical companies to send samples of their product to the Ayuverdic department for steroid and narcotics testing. This will not only cater to products sold as herbal medicines but at the same time synthetic drugs. Once the supplements tested clean of any harmful ingredients, that’s the only time that pharmaceutical companies can release the product in the market.

Herbs do have many beneficial properties that can be used to treat diseases or help improve the health of an individual. However, some pharmaceutical companies intentionally include other ingredients such as steroid to increase the potency of the products. This becomes a great concern for the authorities. The Ayuverdic department will also check the authenticity of these herbs while undergoing laboratory test in the ayuverdic pharmacy in Patiala. A register will be maintained which records the number of samples sent, the batch number, the patents and the results of the tests from the samples given.

The district ayurvedic officer, Narender Thind told the TimesofIndia that the initiative by the government aims to know if the pharmaceutical companies were using steroids in their supplement products.

Meanwhile, the bureau of food and drugs in the Philippines intensified its monitoring of the tainted supplements being sold in the country. Agents of the agency recently raided several health stores selling supplements which are found to contain steroids and other harmful chemicals such as mercury. The authorities targeted a weight loss supplement imported from China and commonly distributed in local health stores across the country. These are Zhen De Zhou products which are popular for its slimming and weight loss effects. Dexter See of MB.com reported that the total number of confiscated supplement products reached 426 boxes for Zhen De Zhou capsules and 29 boxes for Zhen De Zhou tea.

The health department already issued warnings on taking slimming and weight loss products. They said that some of these supplements contains harmful ingredients which can pose health risks to the user. They found out in the laboratory tests that these products contain high level of mercury and tainted with steroid ingredients. It was also found out that the product is not registered with the BFAD or Bureau of Foods and Drugs.

The authorities already requested the manufacturer of the Zhen De Zhou products to recall its supplements in the country. This weight loss product has been sold in the country for many years now and the late discovery of steroid ingredients in the product has put many consumers at risk. Distributors of these products, both online and offline health stores should cooperate with the government agencies by discontinuing the sale of these supplements.

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