Dr. Rick Kingston, president of regulatory and scientific affairs for SafetyCall International and Pet Poison Helpline, will be speaking at the IFT 2010 Annual Meeting and Food Expo on Monday July 19, 2010.  His presentation will cover the practical use and analysis of spontaneously reported adverse event data involving botanicals and other dietary supplements. 

With the growth in dietary supplement use in many countries, there is an increasing need to assess the safety of such products.  The safety assessment of these products is not an easy task.  Challenges exist with both the quantity and quality of information with respect to toxicological and clinical effects.  Adverse reactions are typically under-reported, and the interpretation of reported cases is often difficult.  Challenges also exist due to the complex nature of many dietary supplements.  Many dietary supplements are obtained from raw/crude botanical or other natural sources (such as marine, mineral and so on); they are not singular, highly purified moieties.  Furthermore, many are presented to the public as complex mixtures incorporating an ever-increasing number of individual ingredients such as herbs, vitamins, and minerals.  In the United States under DSHEA, dietary supplements are assessed by the manufacturer/distributor and held to a lesser safety standard than food, that is the “reasonable expectation of no harm.”  This symposium will address not only some of the historical and continuing challenges faced when assessing dietary supplement safety, but also will highlight emerging initiatives and toxicological methods aimed at overcoming these challenges.