AHPA has been working with an expert advisory committee to review, revise and broaden AHPA's Herbs of Commerce, the standard for common and scientific plant names used for herbal products.
Once AHPA has compiled updates provided by the expert committee, members will have an opportunity to review and comment on proposed changes and additions before the third edition is published.
AHPA's Herbs of Commerce is a necessity for anyone who writes about plants or manufactures herbal products. It was incorporated by FDA in 1997 in the final rule issued to implement the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) and current federal regulations require the common or usual name of botanical ingredients in dietary supplements be consistent with the names standardized in Herbs of Commerce.
First published in 1992 and revised in 2000, the current edition of Herbs of Commerce lists Latin binomials, Standardized Common Names, Ayurvedic, Chinese (pinyin), and other common names for 2,048 species, including 25 fungi and 23 seaweeds.
AHPA is currently considering roughly 800 additional suggested entries that have been submitted by herbal product industry members and experts to better reflect species in current use across all regions of the United States. AHPA members will be given an opportunity to review and provide additional input after this review is complete.
AHPA published Herbs of Commerce as industry self-governing guidance to reduce confusion associated with labeling botanical ingredients, established a single “standardized” common name for each listed herbs.