Adulteration of Herbal Preparations

Abstract

Adulteration in the context of herbal medicines is the intentional introduction of extraneous ingredients into a product. The objects of such adulteration include drugs for clinical effectiveness, industrial dyes to modify appearance and substitution to enhance quantities. Historical reviews demonstrate that adulteration is an old vice as recorded by Dioscorides in Materia Medica, Pliny the Elder in Naturalis Historica and Pomet’s, A Complete History of Drugs. In the 17th century, King James granted a separate charter to the Apothecaries Guild to distinguish them from general merchants of the Grocers Guild. He remarked that ‘the business of the apothecary is a mystery’, hence less likely to be influenced by adulteration. The desire to guard against adulteration and sophistication led to the development of specific legislation and pharmacopoeias in various jurisdictions.