DNA doesn’t lie.
And when scientists from the University of Guelph scoured the DNA in a number of herbal products, they found that many times the labels on the merchandise didn’t accurately reflect what was in the container.
Some products contained fillers like wheat or rice that were not listed on the label. Some were contaminated with other plant species that could have caused toxicity or triggered allergic reactions. And still others contained no trace of the substance the bottle purported to contain.
People buying herbal products need to know they may not be getting what they are paying for — and they may be ingesting something they aren’t expecting, Steve Newmaster, an integrative biology professor at the university who was the first author on the paper.
Read the full, original story here: ‘CSI’-like DNA study finds herbal products don’t always list all contents on the label
Additional Resources:
- “DNA barcoding on the verge of revolutionizing everyday life,” Dallas News
- “Scientists create DNA tracking tags, might soon be used to track protesters as well as animals,” ExtremeTech
- “DNA ‘barcodes’ identify plants,” CBC News