Richters HerbLetter 98/10/14
Conrad Richter
conradr at interlog.com
Thu Oct 15 18:43:11 EST 1998
----------------------- Richters HerbLetter -------------------------
Published by: Richters, Specializing in the World of Herbs
Goodwood, Ontario L0C 1A0, Canada
Editor: Conrad Richter <conrad at richters.com>
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 98/10/14
Contents
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Allheal Found Effective Against Herpes
2. Health Canada Foaming over Body Shop's Hemp
3. Norway Gets Tough on Khat
4. Swiss Case Tests Legality of Selling Marijuana as 'Potpourri'
5. Busted for Possession of Herbs
6. Trade in Bark Treatment for Prostate Cancer Threatens Tree
7. Bio-pirates Stealing Traditional Wisdom Say Sri Lankan Scientists
8. Big Companies Reap Big Profits from African Herbal Knowledge
9. Herbal Remedies Offer New Opportunities for South Africa
10. Pharmaceutical-Style Testing Promoted By Booming Herb Industry
11. German E Monographs Selling Well, Herbal PDR Soon to Be Available
12. Herb Business News
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** C o m e t o t h e 3 r d A n n u a l ***
*** Richters Commercial Herb Growing Conference -Oct. 24- Toronto ***
*** http://www.richters.com or email to conference at richters.com ***
*** Late addition: Robert Seidel, Essential Oil Company ***
*** On growing herbs for the essential oil market ***
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Allheal Found Effective Against Herpes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TORONTO, Oct 3, Globe and Mail -- A traditional Chinese remedy may
help treat the sysmptoms of herpes. Spencer Lee and Song Lee of the Queen
Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax say an extract of the plant
Prunella vulgaris [commonly known as allheal] helps speed up the healing
of sores on both the genitals and around the mouth. They believe it works
by stopping the virus from growing within cells and by preventing it from
binding to cells.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Health Canada Foaming over Body Shop's Hemp
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Kevin McGran
TORONTO, Oct 6, Canadian Press -- The Body Shop couldn't have found a
better way to create a buzz about its new line of hemp skin-care products
than to have the federal Health Department threaten to seize the goods if
they showed up in stores.
The Body Shop, its hand forced by the government warning issed
Friday, converted its product launch this week into a joint information
session on the value -- and legality -- of hemp.
"I don't know of another member of the vegetable kingdom that has been
so maligned and misunderstood," said Anita Roddick, founder of the The
Body Shop International.
It is legal in Canada to grow hemp and sell its byproducts, including
clothing, beer and skin creams.
And hemp is a low-cost, high-yield, environmentally sound plant that
is a lifeline to struggling farmers. Hemp requires very little in the way
of pesticides or fungicides, converts greenhouse gases and actually
improves the soil.
But its historical relationship to marijuana -- even though hemp
doesn't provide a high -- seems to be creating some paranoia as hemp
products move from the head shops to major retailers.
"We were told by Health Canada if we moved the product from the
warehouse to the shops, Health Canada may sieze them," said Margot
Frannsen, president of The Body Shop Canada. "And that, although we were
absolutely within the law, they suggested very strongly that we do not
carry on with the product launch."
Federal health officials declined comment yesterday. Spokeman Derek
Kent said they were in meetings over the hemp issue.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Norway Gets Tough on Khat
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAIROBI, Oct 12, All Africa News Agency -- Norway is getting tough on
khat (or miraa), a herbal amphetamine whose leaves are routinely chewed by
tens of thousands of users in Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Yemeni, Zanzibar,
Tanzania, Djibouti, Ethiopia and a number of European countries, notably
Britain.
According to a report in The Guardian newspaper, two travellers,
Jennifer Mankuso and an elderly man who arrived in Norway in mid September
from Britain carrying 32 kilograms and 17 kilogrammes of khat for Somali
friends resident in the Nordic country, found themselves in jail. Norway
considers khat to be a prohibited narcotic.
The elderly courier said he had hoped to make US$450 for his trouble,
which he had planned to use to build the grave of his wife who died last
year.
Other sources say a number of Somalis and other Africans are held in
Norwegian prisons after they were found with consignments of khat which
they thought was legal, since it is not banned in the UK and other western
nations. In Britain, as in Kenya and Somalia, khat is sold openly in the
markets mainly used by the Somali and Yemeni communities.
The last time Britain attempted to ban the use of khat was in 1954 in
what used to be their colony, Aden, now part of a unified Yemeni Republic.
It created so much ill feeling that the British soon back- tracked. The
Yemenis argued successfully that chewing khat has always been part of
their culture.
Khat growers in Meru District on the foothills of Mount Kenya do
booming business each year with their khat consignments being flown to
Somalia on chartered planes through Nairobi's Wilson Airport. Aircraft and
consignments arriving at various destinations are guarded by factional
fighters, an indication of the importance of the commodity in the Somali
markets.
Although it has not been banned in many countries, long term chewing of
khat does have a number of negative repercussions. For example a number of
Somali women complain that their husbands neglect their families, choosing
to spend all their energies in khat chewing sessions. Others suffer
periodic depression as a result of this drug.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Swiss Case Tests Legality of Selling Marijuana as 'Potpourri'
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Marcus Kabel
ZURICH, Oct 12, Reuters -- In little shops springing up around
Switzerland, you can buy all the marijuana you want. You just aren't
supposed to smoke it.
Drugs made from the hemp plant are illegal in Switzerland, as in most
countries, but a turn of phrase in Swiss lawbooks leaves open a loophole
by prohibiting trade in marijuana only if it is sold specifically as a
narcotic.
Enterprising hemp retailers are testing the limits of the law by
selling marijuana as potpourri, or dried hemp packed in small cloth bags
as an herbal room scent and labelled "not for consumption."
But after three years of rapid growth, dozens of hemp shops could be
facing imminent closure as prosecutors in Zurich take one shop owner to
court in a test case.
"I don't accept responsibility for misuse of the product," says Bruno
Hiltebrand, who is due in court on October 16 to face charges of selling
marijuana as a narcotic.
Hiltebrand, a 39-year-old pixie-like figure with spiky hair dyed
bright blond, sells 22 varieties of Swiss-grown hemp at between 20 and 100
Swiss francs ($15-75) per sachet with names like "Juicy Fruit," "Lemon
Skunk" and "Organic Northern Light."
Hiltebrand echoes the standard defence that others in the new Swiss
hemp trade have been using since a few growers and their friends came up
with the idea in the mid-1990s.
The argument is simple. The potpourri sachets are legal, the shop
owners say, because they are sold for aroma therapy and expressly marked
as not for consumption as a drug.
What the buyer does at home with the contents is outside the vendor's
control, they say.
"If the police catch a Porsche driver going over the speed limit,
they don't punish the car salesman," Hiltebrand said. "If we get a
customer who says they want something to smoke, we tell them firmly that
we don't have anything to smoke, just aroma sachets."
- Prosecutors Reject Vendor's Argument -
This is a line that prosecutors in Zurich, Switzerland's biggest
city, are no longer willing to accept.
"After carefully reviewing the legal situation, the district
prosecutor's office believes the law is very clear," said Prosecutor Max
Spoerri.
Consumption of marijuana is illegal and so is its sale for
consumption, he said.
"I am convinced this case will be decisive regardless of which way
the verdict goes," Spoerri said.
If the court finds Hiltebrand guilty of trafficking in commercial
narcotics and the verdict is upheld on appeal, then prosecutors across
Switzerland will file similar charges aimed at shutting down other hemp
shops, Spoerri says.
If the verdict is not guilty, then politicians will probably start
work quickly on rewording the law to seal the loophole, according to the
head of the Swiss Federal Health Agency.
"It is no secret that we have been watching the development of so
many hemp shops in Switzerland with some concern," said the agency's
director Thomas Zeltner. "Hemp as a narcotic is prohibited by Swiss law
and the idea is that it should stay prohibited."
- Other Products -
From a handful two or three years ago, the number of hemp sachet
shops has grown to around 160 and is growing by about 50 per year,
according to experts.
Besides the aroma sachets, most hemp shops sell a wide range of less
controversial products from clothes made of hemp fibre to hemp
seed-flavoured ice cream.
The fact that these shops were selling marijuana from Swiss fields
and greenhouses started making headlines in 1997. Zurich prosecutors
opened their investigation after a critical story in the conservative Neue
Zuercher Zeitung newspaper.
"The cause was various complaints, for example from parents who were
upset that their children were spending their entire pocket money in these
shops," Spoerri said.
"Even the police in (neighbouring) southern Germany complained that
people were coming back with marijuana from here and so did police in
northern Italy."
Spoerri is seeking a 14-month suspended sentence for Hiltebrand, a
fine of 20,000 Swiss francs and a further 100,000 Swiss francs in alleged
illegal profits.
The figure of 100,000 francs is Spoerri's estimate of the net profit
Hiltebrand's shop earned on hemp sachet sales of 195,000 francs from the
start of the investigation in August 1997 to April, when charges were
filed.
Hiltebrand's shop "James Blunt" is typical of the genre, a small and
crowded storefront in a side street behind the city's central train
station.
Its plate glass windows are painted with the names of ailments
allegedly treatable by inhaling the aroma of bagged hemp -- everything
from sleeplessness and irritability to impotence and hair loss.
"I have loved hemp for a long, long time," says Hiltebrand.
"That's why I opened this business, because I saw that other people
were doing it and not having any legal problems."
Spoerri says it was probably a mistake to let the hemp sachet
business flourish for so long before intervening.
The Zurich local court is due to reach its verdict on or shortly
after Friday's one-day hearing.
But a final decision could be delayed by months or even years through
appeals all the way to the Swiss supreme court, leaving time for the
active community of Swiss hemp farmers to find other ways to dispose of
their harvest.
"Experience teaches us that hemp growers have a very active
imagination when it comes to finding new ways to market their product,"
said Zeltner.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Busted for Possession of Herbs
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VINITA, Okla., Oct 2, AP -- A driving-under-the-influence case against
a black man who was busted with what turned out to a bag of organically
grown herbs has been dismissed.
District Judge Harry Wyatt on Friday threw out the case against George
Singleton in the midst of the trial, saying prosecutors hadn't presented
enough evidence for the jury.
Among other things, blood tests showed no evidence of any intoxicating
substance in Singleton's blood. The only prosecution witness was a trooper
who wrote in his report that Singleton was unsteady on his feet and had
bloodshot eyes and slurred speech when he was pulled over.
Singleton's lawyer had claimed that the only reason police pursued the
charge was that Singleton is black and has hip-length dreadlocks.
"It makes us look like a bunch of rednecks," defense attorney James
Hadley said of the case. "This guy was being persecuted rather than
prosecuted."
Singleton, 49, of Dummerston, Vt., could have received a year in jail
and a $1,000 fine if convicted.
Highway Patrol Trooper Alvin Lavender pulled over Singleton in
February, saying he was weaving and speeding.
Lavender seized a bag of what looked like marijuana, but it turned out
to be rosemary and another herb, mullein, that Singleton said he uses to
treat his tuberculosis. Blood tests turned up negative, but prosecutors
pursued driving-under-the-influence charges anyway.
The witnesses for the defense included a jailer who said Singleton did
not appear intoxicated when he was booked Feb. 27.
Singleton helped found Hope-LA-USA in 1992, a national group that tries
to get teen-age gang members involved in organic gardening. He was
returning from working with gangs in California when he was arrested.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Trade in Bark Treatment for Prostate Cancer Threatens Tree
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAIROBI, Oct 8, The Nation -- The Prunus africana tree, which is the
source of the most potent and effective treatment for prostate cancer, is
highly endangered by booming trade in its bark in Europe, experts have
warned.
The annual over-the-counter trade in prunus-based remedies is estimated
at $220 million, according to Icraf's Tony Simons. In Germany, aging men
spent $150 million in 1994 alone on prunus treatments for prostate cancer.
"There is no doubt that the market for herbal treatments for urological
and prostatic problems is lucrative," says Mr Simons.
He says with the rising incident of prostate problems as a greater
proportion of the population enters the elderly age bracket, coupled with
a growing confidence in herbal treatments, the market for prunus- based
medicines is likely to double or triple within the next ten years.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Bio-pirates Stealing Traditional Wisdom Say Sri Lankan Scientists
------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLOMBO, Oct 8, IPS -- Long before the arrival of Western drugs,
indigenous doctors pounded and prepared medicine from wild plants and
flowers gathered from Sri Lanka's thick tropical forests to treat a
variety of illnesses.
The ancient formulations of the "ayurveda" system of medicine were
zealously guarded and passed on from one generation to the next in
families that could trace back their ancestry for many centuries.
In the northcentral town of Polonnaruwa an indigenous doctor treats
patients with heart problems who would otherwise require bypass surgery
for a fraction of the cost of surgery which is at least $4,500 in
hospitals in the country.
Now giant global pharmaceutical drug companies, aware of the
therapeutical qualities of medicinal plants, are virtually stealing this
ancient wisdom by extracting chemicals from local plants and patenting it
abroad, particularly in the United States.
Upali Pilapitiya, director of the Bandaranaike Memorial Ayurveda
Research Institute, says that the tremendous interest in the West about
natural Ayurvedic remedies, has led to a growing interest in Asia's
indigenous plant life.
Studies have revealed that more than 40 percent of western
pharmaceutical products contain Asian plant extracts but these Asian
countries including Sri Lanka have earned very little in return.
Export of medicinal plants or their extracts is banned in Sri Lanka.
However bio-piracy is flourishing, quite often with the assistance of Sri
Lankans who have no qualms of selling indigenous knowledge and innovation.
Last month, a university professor and another wealthy Sri Lankan, whose
wife is a social activist, were detained for bio-piracy by security
personnel.
"Loopholes in existing law s and other legal snags are robbing the
country of millions of dollars that is rightfully ours," asserts Sirimal
Premakumara, a scientist at the Ceylon Institute of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
He said that since the country does not have the hi-tech scientific
equipment to analyze chemical components of indigenous plants or the
capacity to pay the international patent fee of $60,000, wealthy countries
are taking advantage.
For instance Salacil reticulata, the scientific name for the locally
grown Kothalahimbutu plant, has been recognized abroad for its ability to
control diabetes. Ayurveda physicians in Sri Lanka have always advised
patients to drink water left overnight in a hand-carved Kothalahimbutu mug
or jug, whose production has become a cottage industry in the island.
Newspapers here report that a Japanese drug company patented a product
based on this herb through the American Chemical Society last year.
Many other patents, like from the plant Weniwalgeta -- used effectively
as a herbal remedy for fever, coughs and colds -- have been registered by
Japanese, European and U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Environmental lawyer Jagath Gunawardene says, "although the law
requires that a patent can be obtained only if it is an economically
valuable invention created through a methodology, most multinationals have
somehow obtained patents for products used in our country for thousands of
years."
Scientists say that the normal ruse adopted by drug transnationals is
to befriend an indigenous doctor, learn the curative properties of plants
and sometimes offer him a trip abroad. The process of extraction of the
chemical and export of the product which is often in the form of a powder,
chemical solvent or the bark of trees, follows.
The two recent cases of biopiracy last month involving a university
botanist and a wealthy Sri Lankan got wide publicity and led to a sudden
interest in the issue by environmentalists and scientists here.
The botanist was intercepted by customs at Colombo airport trying to
smuggle some plant extracts in his suitcase. In the same month, customs
officials discovered a container load of Kothalahimbutu -- 1,512 cups
weighing some 4 tons -- being shipped to Japan through a firm owned by the
wealthy Sri Lankan.
Gunawardene feels that the laws should be strengthened to prevent the
smuggling of Sri Lanka's indigenous plants and ayurvedic knowledge.
Normally, product patents are given only if they fulfill the criteria
of being new, specify the process and must necessarily have commercial
value. If there are discrepancies in this process, the patent can be
contested in court.
Like in the case of the U.S patent for turmeric which was successfully
challenged by India on the grounds that its medicinal properties are well
known since ancient times.
However, because India has no worthwhile law to protect its rich
biodiversity or intellectual property rights another U.S company earlier
this year took out patents on long-grain basmati rice grown for centuries
by farmers in India and Pakistan.
Developing countries, rich in indigenous resources, need to tighten
biodiversity laws to stop the usurpation of the resources and knowledge of
its people, Sri Lankan scientists say.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Big Companies Reap Big Profits from African Herbal Knowledge
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Isabirye Musoke
KAMPALA, Oct 4, The Monitor -- My brother-in-law's mother was murdered
a few years ago during the rainy season at her home in a remote village in
Mityana, Mubende district.
The muddy roads were impassable and therefore the police took more than
two weeks to reach the scene of crime, take finger-prints, if any, and
other material evidence to help in the investigations.
The relatives and village Local Council officials decided not to tamper
with the body as it was discovered in the sitting room of a simple mud and
wattle, grass-thatched house of the 75-year-old victim.
However, they spread a leafy plant around the body. When we arrived at
the scene, the body it its tattered clothes was dry and intact. There was
no sign of decomposing at all.
No flies attempting to desecrate the body, or any strong, bad smell
that's associated with death.
Because it was a sad moment, I didn't have the opportunity to inquire
about the names of the tree which were used to preserve the body in that
simple but effective way.
Now I regret this - because humanity is now the poorer without that
traditional information of local medicine.
Before European civilisation descended on Africa, natives had a tested
system of traditional medicine which was passed from generation to
generation by word of mouth.
Even now, remote areas of Uganda which are still cut off from modern
hospitals and clinics are thriving on traditional knowledge of medicinal
plants and herbs.
But these plants are disappearing at an alarming rate, threatening
future food supplies and the invention of new drugs.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns that
since the beginning of the Century about 75 percent of the world's crop
plant varieties have become extinct, and around 50,000 disappear every
year all over the world as man encroaches on forest and marshlands.
It is believed thousands and thousands of useful medicinal plants and
herbs disappeared from the surface of the earth when the rain-forest was
destroyed in North Africa to give way to the Sahara desert.
Ancient Egyptians, for example, had a herbal drug they extracted from a
plant which was used to embalm bodies.
Some of the mummies discovered in archeological sites are more than
2,000 years old and can be presented today in top form.
That drug is of course, extinct - along with those who had knowledge of
it.
There are many useful medicinal plants and herbs still existing in
Uganda and yet our celebrated scientists and researchers have neglected
their existence, let alone their relevance to mankind.
Many of us have been so brain-washed by the Western civilisation that
we now despise anything African. There's this plant which is usually found
in front of the main door of most rural houses to prevent mosquitoes from
entering.
The plant has flowers which, during the rainy season, emit a very
strong though nice smell which repels mosquitoes and other dangerous
insects and snakes. But I've also been told that the scent of this plant
is bad for people who are asthmatic. There are also plants in rural areas
which, I've been told, can ward off green house-flies.
There are certain medicinal plants whose leaves can be squeezed in
water and drunk to cure such ailments like malaria and even provide
immunity from the disease for several years.
Before Viagra stole the world show, we had here in Uganda a herb called
omusongola which was as effective as viagra (perhaps more) and there were
no reported deaths by users.
Moreover, as our indigenous scientists and researchers continue to
neglect our biological heritage, scientists and researchers from powerful
multinationals are descending on local unsuspecting herbalists and
traditional healers, offering them peanuts and shipping away this
billion-dollar information.
Over 90 percent of plant species are located in Africa, Asia and Latin
America. Yet this multi-billion dollar market has been cornered by large
transnational corporations, mostly from the North, bent on patenting
everything from traditional pest-resistant seeds to human cells.
International patent law remains open to interpretation, but it is
usually the local farmers, herbalists and traditional healers in the south
who get the raw deal.
A recent study indicates that if transnational corporations paid
developing countries and indigenous people royalties on the plant
varieties and local knowledge they have used, it would amount to $5. 4
billion a year - by modest estimates.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Herbal Remedies Offer New Opportunities for South Africa
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Louise Cook
PRETORIA, Sept 30, Business Day -- South Africa has the potential to
become a world leader in the development of medicinal products from
indigenous plants, Ben van Wyk, head of the Rand Afrikaans University
botany department, said yesterday.
Van Wyk, set to deliver the key-note address at the inaugural meeting
of a new association for crop research in South Africa, is confident the
increasing popularity of herbal remedies as alternatives to chemical drugs
could make South Africa a world player in phytomedicines.
"It is of the utmost importance to promote the local innovation and not
merely to become the source of cheap raw materials for the sophisticated
and booming European and American phytomedicines markets. We have the
advantage of a rich plant diversity, access to markets and local
scientific expertise to ensure only quality products are released."
However, the method of sorting out the legal implications of marketing
the products was still uncertain.
This was to ensure that local experts on indigenous material - mostly
rural communities, tribal doctors and African farmers - received their
fair share in royalties and were protected against commercial
exploitation.
An arts, science and technology parliamentary committee was considering
new legislation to enforce protection.
Van Wyk said most of the plants involved were being sold on global
markets already.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Pharmaceutical-Style Testing Promoted By Booming Herb Industry
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Lauran Neergaard
WASHINGTON, Oct 13, AP -- Just as wine varies from vineyard to vineyard
and melons from one field are sweet while those from another are
tasteless, herbs' ingredients vary from batch to batch -- and millions of
consumers have little way of knowing just what they're getting.
Now the herbal supplement industry is attempting to counter growing
complaints with science: A fledgling movement uses pharmaceutical-style
testing to ensure consumers get the ingredients they pay for -- and might
even turn some popular herbs into prescription drugs.
"We're trying to give people some rational basis" for choosing to take
a particular herb, said Bernie Landes, chief executive of Paracelsian
Inc., which looks for the active ingredients that make herbs work.
"We want to be the Underwriters Laboratory for herbals," said Elliot
Friedman, who heads competitor PharmaPrint Inc., which just announced its
testing had discovered that five ingredients may help St. John's wort ease
depression -- not the lone ingredient advertised by most herbal brands.
Americans are expected to spend $4.3 billion this year on herbal
supplements such as saw palmetto, ginseng and others that promise to do
everything from lifting depression and shrinking men's swollen prostates
to fighting colds and easing stress.
So far, there's little scientific proof behind many of the claims of
better health. But if an herb does help, consumers would need a
"standardized" brand that carries a consistent dose of the ingredients
that make it work.
St. John's wort, for example, has made headlines when laboratory tests,
including one recently commissioned by the Los Angeles Times, found
competing brands often don't contain levels of the active ingredient
hypericin promised on the bottle. No brand advertises all four additional
ingredients that PharmaPrint claims consumers also need.
Testing is "a step in the right direction," said Dr. H.B. Matthews of
the National Institutes of Health, which organized a meeting last month
where scientists demanded better quality from the booming industry -- and
stressed the need for standardization. Among some brands, "the contents
vary by as much as tenfold," he said.
The companies haven't yet proved their methods work, Matthews
cautioned.
"It's alluring," agreed Mark Blumenthal of the nonprofit American
Botanical Council. "But the proof is going to come in the clinical
trials," in which companies scientifically test their brands' true effect.
The two companies are running herbs through the same lab tests that
prescription medicines must pass -- called bioassays -- to uncover just
what biologically active ingredients they contain.
For example, certain test-tube experiments test whether chemicals
interact with brain pathways involved in depression. If the experiments
measure a response, that chemical is biologically active.
Then the companies contract with herb manufacturers to guarantee
certain brands carry high levels of the most biologically active
ingredients. American Home Products next month begins selling six
PharmaPrint-tested herbs under its popular Centrum supplement brand:
Echinacea, garlic, ginkgo, ginseng, saw palmetto and St. John's wort.
Paracelsian promises competing brands early next year.
The companies also plan to seek Food and Drug Administration approval
to sell the most effective herbs as prescription drugs, so doctors wary of
the largely unregulated supplements could choose, for a little higher
price, a fully tested medicine version.
PharmaPrint has begun clinical trials of its first drug candidate, saw
palmetto, to measure whether men taking the herbal pills have their
enlarged prostates shrink more than men who get a dummy pill. Company
testing shows saw palmetto is biologically active; the question is whether
the effect is big enough to help.
There already is some scientific data from Europe, where Germany sells
herbs as drugs, that some herbs have healthful effects. That data prompted
the NIH to finance a study starting this winter comparing St. John's wort
to the prescription anti-depressant Zoloft, to see which better helps
moderately depressed Americans.
Such careful studies are new for the U.S. supplement industry, which
has run largely on folklore.
But "to assume something the Seminole Indians used for maintaining the
health of their prostate 500 years ago is identical to something in a
bottle today -- it really begs the whole issue of science," said
Paracelsian's Landes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. German E Monographs Selling Well, Herbal PDR Soon to Be Available
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oct 13, AP -- Doctors urge the millions of Americans who take dietary
supplements to tell their physicians because the supplements could affect
their medical care. Some supplements may interact with prescription drugs
-- doctors may advise users of the blood thinner Coumadin, for example,
not to take the herb ginkgo.
But many doctors have had little information to use in advising
patients about supplements. Now, they can hunt research about popular
herbs in two new handbooks that promise to reveal Germany's extensive
database plus other clinical trials around the world. (In Germany, herbs
are sold as drugs.)
"The Complete German Commission E Monographs -- Therapeutic Guide to
Herbal Medicines," translates the German government's evaluations of herbs
into English, with charts that let doctors look up herb-drug interactions
and safety warnings. Compiled by Mark Blumenthal of the nonprofit American
Botanical Council, the 710-page guide has sold 8,000 copies since August.
Thousands of doctors know the Physicians' Desk Reference series of
medicine guides, called the PDR. Next month, the "PDR for Herbals" will be
published with information on 600 plants, said editor Joerg Gruenwald, a
Berlin herbal consultant. The guide combines German data with references
that let doctors track down additional research in evaluating herbs, he
said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. Herb Business News
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hai-O Enterprise: Chinese Herb Company to Enter Philippines Market
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2, Asia Pulse -- The Chinese herbs and medicine
trading company, Hai-O Enterprise Bhd, planned to expand its business to
the Philippines next year after successfully making inroads into Thailand
a year ago, said managing director Tan Kai Hee.
The company planned to market herbal products as well as lubricant oil
which it also manufactures in the Philippines, he said after the company's
annual and extraordinary general meetings here today.
"We may set up a distribution centre with a local partner, but the
final decision has not been made," he added.
Tan said that business in Thailand was encouraging, and Hai-O had
recorded close to RM3 million in lubricant oil sales last year, more than
its earlier target of RM1 million.
For this year, Tan was confident that sales would exceed RM3 million,
he said.
"We already have a stable market for the business which we started two
years ago."
Hai-O's lubricant oil, under the brand name "Jet Turbo X1000", is
manufactured in a plant sited in Kelang, Selangor in a venture with an
American partner.
Apart from expanding the market for its products, Hai-O will also
undertake another significant move next year, namely to increase its
locally-made products.
"We hope to increase local made products to 80 percent by the end of
this year from 50 percent now, while imports will account for only 20
percent by that period," he added.
According to Tan, this could be done through various ways, such as
increasing the quantity of local packaging volume with added value,
although the company still needed to import ingredients required for many
of its products.
Asked about the recent government's move to fix the ringgit at RM3.8
against the U.S dollar, Tan said: "The currency control measures had
helped to stabilise our cost of business and to enable us to make
decisions on what we want to do."
On the company's financial performance, he said it was able to maintain
its profit amidst the economic slowdown and was confident that it could
make a profit for the current financial year.
For the financial year ended April 30, 1998, Hai-O registered a
turnover of RM138 million representing a slight decrease of 8.36 percent
compared with RM150.8 million previously.
The group's pre-tax profit and exceptional items moderated to RM10.1
million, 38.1 percent lower than the RM16.3 million recorded in the
previous year.
----
Rexall Sundown: Record Fourth Quarter Sales and Earnings Increases
BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 7, PRNewswire -- Rexall Sundown, Inc. (Nasdaq:
RXSD) announced today record results for the fourth quarter and fiscal
year ended August 31, 1998.
Net sales for the fourth quarter were $153.6 million, reflecting a 73%
increase over $88.6 million reported in the same period of the prior year.
Net income of $20.6 million for the three months just ended increased $9.2
million, or 81%, compared to last year's pro forma fourth quarter. Diluted
earnings per share for the fourth quarter were $0.28 compared to $0.16 in
the fourth quarter last year reflecting a 75% increase.
In making the announcement, Chris Nast, the Company's Chief Executive
Officer, stated, "We once again achieved outstanding revenue and net
income growth." Sales to retailers rose 99% and sales of Rexall Showcase
International, the Company's Direct Sales division, increased 42% compared
to the prior year's quarter. "More impressive is the fact that our fourth
quarter operating margins of 20.6 percent increased approximately 1.9
points, compared to the fourth quarter of 1997, during a period where we
more than doubled our investment in advertising and product development,"
Mr. Nast added.
For the fiscal year ended August 31, 1998, net sales increased 83% to
$530.7 million from $290.6 million the previous year. Mr. Nast said, "We
continue to achieve a substantially higher sales growth rate compared to
the overall nutritional industry reflecting our continued success at
gaining new distribution, broadening distribution within our existing
accounts, expanding our direct sales distributor base and introducing
innovative new science-based products." The Company's Osteo Bi-Flex(TM)
brand has become the second best-selling national brand supplement in the
country and the Sundown(R) vitamin and Sundown(R) herbal lines remain the
number one selling brands in both units and dollars in the total U.S.
food, drug and mass markets.
----
Pharma Labs: Gets $1.5M Vitamin, Herbal, Aloe Vera Orders
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Oct 7, Dow Jones -- Pharmaceutical Laboratories
Inc. (PHLB) received a $1.5 million order from SourceCorp Holdings Inc.
for its liquid vitamin, herbal and aloe vera products.
In a press release Wednesday, Pharmaceutical Labs said the products will
be shipped immediately for domestic and international distribution.
Pharmaceutical Labs also said the alliance could result in "several
million dollars" of increased sales for 1999.
SourceCorp Holdings, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., is a multinational company.
Pharmaceutical Labs specializes in the development, manufacturing and
marketing of liquid nutritional products.
----
Alta Natural Herbs: September Sales Up 42 Percent
VANCOUVER, Oct 7, Canadian Corp News -- Company Vice President,
Raymond J. Irvine, is pleased to announce that The Company has recorded
it's highest sales for any September since becoming publicly traded. Sales
for September 1998 were reported as $356,496.58. This compares with
$251,260.00 for the same period in 1997.
"That is a 42 percent increase in revenue over the same period last
year," said Irvine, "and it's consistent with our sales trend and with
growth in the multi-billion dollar naturopathic industry overall."
According to Irvine, "We are seeing increases in sales of products
across the board and not just in a single product or line." Although the
shark cartilage product, Cartilago, remains the company's top seller Alta
has seen increased interest in all their herbal and sea-based products.
"That is a sign that the strong upward trends in the US is now reaching
the Canadian marketplace." according to Company Vice President of Sales,
Greg Shafransky.
----
Natrol: Helps Found Nutritional Alliance
CHATSWORTH, Calif., Oct 8, Business Wire -- Natrol Inc. (Nasdaq:NTOL)
has joined other nutritional-industry leaders to form a new alliance
created to increase knowledge and awareness of the efficacy and safety of
herbs, vitamins and other dietary supplements among the medical profession
and the general public.
The Corporate Alliance for Integrative Medicine Inc. has been founded
by 10 of the industry's leading dietary-supplement manufacturers and
suppliers. Founding members include Botanicals International, East Earth
Herbs Inc., Natrol Inc., Nature's Herbs Inc., Nature's Way Products Inc.,
NuSkin Inc., Nutraceutical Inc., Pure World Inc./Madis Botanicals Inc.,
Rexall Sundown Inc. and Weider Nutrition International Inc.
Established as a not-for-profit corporation, the Corporate Alliance
will focus on founding research programs at major universities nationwide.
These programs will be dedicated to the study of dietary supplements. The
Corporate Alliance will also fund and develop educational initiatives to
inform medical professionals and consumers about the results of research
in these areas.
According to Jennifer Cooper, president of the alliance: "The
alliance is strengthened by the participation of major, sometimes
competitive, leaders of the dietary-supplement industry who agreed to join
together to promote the finest research and educational initiatives
possible. We are committed to assisting medical professionals and
consumers in making the best decisions about dietary."
"This alliance," said Elliott Balbert, Natrol's president and
chairman, "confirms our commitment to pursue accurate and scientifically
valid information in the support and sale of its dietary supplements."
----
Alta Natural Herbs: Retail Expansion With Hudson's Bay Co.
VANCOUVER, Oct 13, Business Wire -- Alta Natural Herbs Raymond J.
Irvine, Alta Natural Herbs & Supplements Ltd.'s (ASE:AHS) Vice President,
reports that The Company has signed a three year license agreement with
The Hudson's Bay Company of Canada to take over the operation of The
Vitamin Stores at The Bay.
The agreement, in which The Company pays a percentage of gross sales
in lieu of rent, allows Alta to enter the Canadian retail market on a
large scale, backed by one of the country's most respected retail names,
without any major cash outlay.
The three-year agreement commits Alta to opening six stores on or
before October 15, 1998 and a total of fifteen stores on or before
November 24, 1998.
The Company will open a total of forty retail outlets within the
Hudson's Bay chain in the first year of the agreement. During this
initrits of expanding into additional Hudson's Bay locations, which are
not currently served by a Vitamin Store outlet. If attractive, Alta will
roll out all additional locations on a schedule agreeable to both parties.
The first six locations scheduled to open October 15th are Surrey BC;
West Vancouver BC; Coquitlam BC; Victoria BC; Kewlona BC; and Saskatoon
SK. The second round of openings scheduled on or before November 24, 1998
are Downtown Vancouver BC; Langley BC; Richmond BC; Burnaby BC; Surrey BC
(2nd location); Oakridge (Vancouver's 2nd location); Downtown Calgary,
AB; Chinook Mall (Calgary's 2nd location); and Downtown Winnipeg, MB. Each
of these existing fifteen locations currently generates an average of
$20,000.00 per month in net revenue after license fees.
"The Company wins big on three fronts." said Irvine "First we now
capture the full retail margin on all products sold through these
locations, second we are able to greatly enhance our brand recognition in
the market by establishing our own retail presence and third, through this
partnership with a major retailing power such as The Hudson's Bay Company,
we are moving closer to achieving our goal of becoming a world player in
the multi-billion dollar natural food supplement industry."
This move into retailing is the company's first step toward
establishing a North America wide retail presence.
----
Chai-Na-Ta: Announces Supply Agreement with Leiner for Ginseng Extract
LANGLEY, B.C., Oct. 13, Business Wire -- Chai-Na-Ta Corp.
(TSE:CC)(Nasdaq:CCCFF) (the "Company") President & CEO, Gerry Gill
announced today that the Company has entered into a supply agreement with
Leiner for its standardized high quality North American whole ginseng
extract powder.
"We are very pleased that Leiner has chosen Chai-Na-Ta to supply its
requirements for high quality North American ginseng," Mr. Gill commented.
"The agreement represents a significant achievement in our strategy to
expand our presence in North America where the markets for ginseng
products have tremendous growth potential."
Chai-Na-Ta's ability to supply ginseng that meets the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) standards was critical to the Leiner relationship.
The EPA standard calls for all ginseng products to be non-detectable for
quintozene, a fungicide used in the growing process, at 10 parts per
billion (PPB). This ruling has severely restricted the supply of ginseng
available to the US manufacturers of ginseng-based products as the
technology for producing quintozene-free ginseng is not widely available.
Chai-Na-Ta's standardized North American whole ginseng extract powder
is processed at one of the only facilities in the world with the advanced
extraction technology capable of meeting the new EPA requirements.
Leiner Health Products is based in Carson, California. The company,
with annual sales in excess of $500 million, manufactures and distributes
vitamins, minerals, and natural supplements. Chai-Na-Ta will begin
delivery of the herbal products in October 1998.
"Our association with Leiner benefits both companies," commented Mr.
Gill. "It provides Leiner with a reliable supply of ginseng extract
powder that meets EPA standards, and forms an important part of
Chai-Na-Ta's strategy to further shift our product supply to the North
American market."
Chai-Na-Ta Corp., based in Langley, British Columbia, is the world's
largest supplier of North American ginseng. The Company farms, processes,
and distributes North American ginseng products, and supplies processed
extract powder to manufacturers of value-added ginseng-based products
worldwide.
----
Herbalife: Launches Herbal Supplement Line for Cold & Flu Season
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13, Business Wire -- Herbalife International Inc.
(Nasdaq NM:HERBA)(Nasdaq NM:HERBB) Wednesday announced that it has
launched seven innovative natural products within its nutritional and
personal care categories, including a targeted line of herbal products for
the upcoming cold and flu season.
The nutritional introductions include products featuring echinacea
and garlic, two of the five best-selling herbs in the United States
according to the Nutrition Business Journal.
All seven new products were unveiled to 4,500 of Herbalife's top
leaders from North and South America who attended the North American
Leadership Development Weekend training event held Oct. 3-4 in San
Francisco.
The introductions targeting the fast-growing market for herbal cold
and flu remedies include Super Echinacea, an immune-support dietary
supplement featuring the best-selling herb in the United States,
echinacea; Herbal Throat Spray, an herbal throat medication to help ease
sore throat discomfort; and Zinc and Echinacea Throat Lozenges,
honey-lemon-flavored lozenges derived from a blend of herbal supplements
for soothing relief.
The cold and flu products are available for purchase individually or
packaged together within an Immune-Support Kit designed for consumers
seeking maximum protection against seasonal discomforts.
"Our new line represents a timely introduction as the upcoming cooler
weather brings with it a seasonal increase in consumer demand for
over-the-counter cold remedies," commented Mark Hughes, Herbalife's
president and chief executive officer.
"In addition, the introduction of the popular echinacea and garlic
products exemplifies our commitment to providing Herbalife distributors
with an increasing selection of leading healthy-lifestyle products to
better serve their customers."
Other products introduced include K8, an advanced supplement
featuring the calming effects of the herb kava kava, which can contribute
to a feeling of relaxation; Mega Garlic Plus, which combines the natural
goodness of garlic with a synergistic blend of other herbs; Herbal Aloe
Body Wash, a gentle liquid cleanser derived from whole-leaf aloe; and
Herbal Aloe Soothing Spray, which offers the soothing benefits of herbal
aloe in a gentle spray-on mist.
The products were launched initially in the United States and will be
made available to Herbalife distributors in a number of additional
international markets in the coming months.
Herbalife International markets nutritional, weight-management and
personal care products in 38 countries worldwide. Herbalife products are
available only through a network of independent distributors who purchase
the products directly from the company.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richters Herb Catalogue: 103 pages, colour, over 800 herb plants,
seeds, and dried herbs. Over 40 new herbs, including rare medicinals
aromatics and culinary herbs. Order catalogue by email at
mailto:catalog at richters.com (include name and postal address in
message). Or order on the Richters Web page, http://www.richters.com .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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