In the News: Dr. Dennis Wm. Stevenson in The New York Times

Posted in Interesting Plant Stories on February 12, 2015 by Stevenson Swanson

Stevenson Swanson is the Garden’s Science Media Manager.

The label on that herbal supplement may say it’s Ginkgo biloba, but given the loose regulation of this multi-billion-dollar industry, how can a consumer be sure that that is what it really contains?

That question prompted the New York Attorney General’s office to investigate the ingredients in some popular herbal supplements using a technology that examines the DNA of the ingredients to determine what they are. The investigation’s disturbing findings—four out of five of the products tested did not contain any of the herbs on their labels—led New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to order Target, Walgreens, Walmart, and GNC to stop selling their house brands of the supplements.

Using similar DNA “barcoding” technology, New York Botanical Garden scientists have been studying the same question for years, as Dennis Wm. Stevenson, Ph.D., Cullman Curator and Vice President for Botanical Research, pointed out in a letter to the editor that ran in the February 10 edition of The New York Times.

The issues at stake include not only accurate information for the consumer but also potentially adverse effects from unwittingly consuming a plant species that triggers an allergic response.

“Many herbal teas contain chamomile but do not list chamomile on the label,” Dr. Stevenson wrote. “So what is a doctor to do when a patient exhibits an allergic reaction to chamomile, but the patient has no idea that he or she has consumed that species?”

Proper testing and labeling could easily solve this problem, he added.

You can read the full text of Dr. Stevenson’s letter here.

And to read about the latest DNA-barcode test on an herbal supplement by Associate Curator Damon Little, Ph.D., in the Garden’s Cullman Program for Molecular Systematics, go here.