By Dr. Glenn Rothfed, MD DBMA 

We have had a number of inquiries from our patients about the likelihood of mad cow disease being spread through natural supplements. This fear came from a recent push by the FDA to control the theoretical spread of mad cow disease through vaccines. Incidental to the FDA’s bulletin was the mention that nutritional supplements from animal sources could possibly carry the disease. This has never been known to happen.

Some clarifying information would be helpful. Mad Cow Disease has recently been discovered in certain European countries, and from Oman in the Middle East. It appears to be caused by a virus-like organism that is slow-growing, leading to a neurological condition known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). It seems to be spread through the ingestion of beef products. There is no evidence currently that any drug or vaccine contains the virus, and in fact testing for the virus is very difficult. The FDA estimates that, even in the current situation (some vaccines are produced from cattle from European sources) the risk of getting the disease from a vaccine is between one in 40 million and one in 40 billion. There have been no cases of BSE in the United States.

Some nutritional supplements use cattle and other animal sources in production of their product. Since there is no quality control in the nutritional supplement industry, The Natural Apothecary maintains its own quality control standards in ordering supplements for our patients. Thus, we attempt to hold our suppliers to the highest standards that are possible in the industry. We ask our suppliers to submit information on independent laboratory testing and on contamination testing of their products. In this way, we are able to assure The Natural Apothecary customers of the purity of our products, something that is not possible in other retail situations.

There are six Natural Apothecary suppliers who have bovine, or cow sources in some of their products. These suppliers are:

• Douglas Laboratories
• 4Life
• Thorne Research
• PhytoPharmica
• Tyler
• Metagenics

None of these suppliers use European cattle. We have all of their Quality Assurance information on record, including their specific reassurances about BSE.

It is this type of quality that we at The Natural Apothecary look to provide our patients. In this way, you may have the confidence that we are looking after your safety as well as your health.