PEHSU Grand Round Series - Herbal Products and Related Toxicity

This webinar is part of an ongoing series of educational presentations by experts on issues that focus on current and emerging aspects of pediatric and reproductive environmental health. These presentations focus on the impact of environmental exposures to chemicals on human health at the vulnerable stages of in utero and pediatric development. A number of topics will be included – all of them relevant to questions of exposure and health effects, with consideration of risk reduction. Speakers will include physicians and PhD subject matter experts, as well as individuals with expertise in areas such as home assessment, laboratory analysis, and risk communication.

  Learning Objectives 

By the end of this presentation, participants should be able to:

1. Understand the DSHEA regulation and amendments
2. Discuss contamination and quality issues with herbal supplements
3. Know the herbs most likely to cause Type I allergic reactions
4. Describe the liver toxicity from pennyroyal and kava kava
5. Describe the CNS toxicity from alpha lipoic acid
6. Explain several toxicological problems with Ginkgo biloba

Presenter

Susan C. Smolinske, PharmD, DABAT, FACCT 
New Mexico Poison & Drug Information Center PEHSU Region 6

Dr. Smolinske graduated with a BS in Pharmacy from the University of Florida and PharmD from Idaho State University. She has been a diplomat of ABAT since 1996, is a fellow of AACT, and is currently the Director of the New Mexico Poison & Drug Information Center and a Professor in Pharmacy Practice and Administration at the University of New Mexico. She has written a book on toxicity of houseplants and conducted original research on the toxicity of dietary supplements. She is a consultant for both ToxED and webPOISONCONTROL and has written numerous triage and treatment documents on both plants and herbal medicines. She has authored a chapter in Yaffe & Aranda's Neonatal and Pediatric Pharmacology: Therapeutic Principles in Practice for the last two editions and has a recent review article in Pediatric Clinics of North American regarding dietary supplement use in children.

Disclaimer: This material was supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and funded (in part) by the cooperative agreement FAIN: 5 NU61TS000237-05 along with the American College of Medical Toxicology and funded (in part) by the cooperative agreement FAIN: 5U61TS000238-05 from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Acknowledgement: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supports the PEHSU by providing partial funding to ATSDR under Inter-Agency Agreement number DW-75-95877701. Neither EPA nor ATSDR endorse the purchase of any commercial products or services mentioned in PEHSU publications.

Acknowledgement: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supports the PEHSU by providing partial funding to ATSDR under Inter-Agency Agreement number DW-75-95877701. Neither EPA nor ATSDR endorse the purchase of any commercial products or services mentioned in PEHSU publications.

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