AHPA updates online Botanical Safety Handbook

AHPA has released updates via the online Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed. to nine additional botanicals.

The following entries have been updated:

• Chinese giant hyssop (Agastache rugosa) was revised to add a notice for alkylbenzene content and a case report of contact dermatitis.
• Chinese yam (Dioscorea oppositifolia) was updated to add an animal pharmacology study.
• Wild yam (Dioscorea villosa) was revised to add an acute toxicity assay.
• Sichuan teasel (Dipsacus asper) was updated to add studies for developmental toxicity, subchronic toxicity, and cytotoxicity.
• Drynaria (Drynaria fortune) was updated to add a clinical trial and an animal pharmacology study.
• Male fern (Dryopteris filix) was revised to add an in vitro pharmacology study.
• Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) was updated to add adverse event information and a human pharmacology study.
• Chinese cimicifuga (Actaea spp.) was revised from Safety Class 2d to Class 1 in this revision due to a lack of evidence for adverse effects at higher dosages.
• Devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus) was revised to add Oplopanax elatus as a species and acute and short-term toxicity studies were added.

Subscribers to the online Botanical Safety Handbook can review short descriptions of updated entries in the "Revisions" panel on the online version homepage when they log in. AHPA will continue to post additional updates to existing entries as well as new botanical entries the near future. Subscribers will be notified of these updates when they become available.

The online Botanical Safety Handbook is undergoing review of existing entries and the addition of new entries to provide the latest safety information before it can be included in future print editions of the handbook.

AHPA's Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed. is an essential tool for anyone who manufactures, recommends, or uses herbal products. It provides safety information on over 500 species of herbs, derived from data compiled from clinical trials, pharmacological and toxicological studies, medical case reports, and historical texts. All entries were reviewed by an Expert Advisory Council that includes some of the most renowned herbal and integrative medicine experts in the United States.