A slimming medicine that authorities in Britain have warned against is being sold in Chinese remedy shops in Dubai. Officials say this highlights the lack of regulation of the potentially dangerous "herbal" medicine sector in the emirate.
Meizitang is a brand-name slimming aid that contains sibutramine, which should only be used under medical supervision as it may raise blood pressure.
In March 2005 the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency of the UK issued a warning against the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ingredient while Dutch authorities seized shipments of Meizitang and another product because of the dangers posed by sibutramine.
Popular TCM weight reducing remedies are also known to include aristolochia - a plant that has been linked to many incidences of kidney failure. The herb has been banned in much of Europe, but is believed to be present in the many Chinese slimming pills for sale in Dubai. The situation is all the more worrying by the fact that few of the imported products contain adequate information in English or Arabic.
Only the smallest fraction of remedies sold at Dragon Mart for example carried adequate product information in English. Most were in Chinese, rendering useless any information on possible risks the herbs may pose.
One wonder drug on offer, Yunan Baiyao, which promises to improve blood function, reduce surgical bleeding, stop haemorrhaging, heal closed fractures and treat soft-tissue contusions simply referred its ingredients to be "confidential". The herb, independent research later found, poses dangers to pregnant women and her baby.
Without proper labelling, consumers are at the mercy of their wits and the knowledge of the TCM sales staff who act as both doctors and pharmacists. The Ministry of Health says it is not involved in regulating natural remedies.
Although the Dubai Department of Economic Development says it provides licences to shops following approval from the health ministry, the ministry's top medicine official said there were currently no registered "herbal medicine pharmacies".
Dr Essa Al Mansoori, the director of the Drug Control Department in the Ministry of Health, revealed that with no registration from the central authority that handles testing of conventional medicines, there was no way of knowing whether the claims made by the medicine were valid, whether the ingredients were stable, or if they were toxic.
"For normal medicines we have many checks toxicology, components, stability, dosage, side-effects, and even the claims made for treatment but this is for conventional pharmacies only. Herbal shops are not regulated in the same way," he said.
Asked about regulations for the natural remedy shops selling products that may include dangerous chemicals as well as herbs, the official said: "I do not know where most of those come from; it is not from the Ministry of Health's licensing arm."
Not so natural
TCMS are popular around the world for providing natural remedies, but an Emirates Today survey reveals most are contaminated with chemicals, and many are wholly allopathic.
I went shopping for my elderly father, trying to find him a natural alternative to the medicines he takes for his diabetes. What I found instead were Metformin hydrochloride tablets. That is the same thing he is prescribed now, but they were selling it over-thecounter, said Alina Phillips, of the United States.
Metformin is the generic name for Dianben, which can cause hypoglycemia and lactic acidosis in the case of an overdose. Lactic acidosis is a rare, but serious, metabolic complication that can occur due to metformin accumulation during treatment and when it occurs, it is fatal in about 50 per cent of cases.
One shop in Dubais Dragon Mart stocked a medicine that openly advertised its contents as theopylline and ephedrine hydrochloride, a prescription asthma medicine that has the potential for abuse and addiction. Its sale did not require prescription.
Other conventional prescribed medicines sold under the heading of natural remedies included cold and fever tablets with the name of Ganmauling Capsule including paracetemol, chlorpheniramine maleate and caffeine.
Another shop sold a medicine that contained the same components as Viagra, also without a prescription.
Under UAE law, only licensed pharmacies may sell prescription medicines, and that too with a registered doctors approval. The TCMs in the emirate are believed to import their stock under the heading of natural remedies, thus skirting the prescription procedure.
By Zarina Khan
Emirates Today 2006
