That herbal supplement may not be what you think it is, scientists find

[Bill USA]

319. there are laws already on the books underwhich any company claiming a product they manufacture and

offer for sale has certain properties or ingredients, which does not contain the ingredients or properties they claim it does, or not in the concentrations they claim, can be prosecuted. It's called Truth in advertizing. the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration monitor claims made by manufacturers of products for deceptive or misleading statements made about the manufacturers products. They can be prosecuted for making false or misleading statements about their product.

Anybody can alert the appropriate agency of a company guilty of false or misleading statements about or claims made for their products.

The manufacturers found in the study you referred to who clearly substituted one substance for another can and should be turned in and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. As far as additional substances - for prosecution this gets into the questions of how much of unrelated ingredients constitutes an actionable offense and are these extraneous substances harmful in the amounts found in the product.

All food products sold in the U.S. have some impurities and 'foriegn matter' in them. It's a question of how much is too much - to be actionable.