However, the executive director of the industry umbrella group for New Zealand's natural products manufacturers and marketers says better communication about the contents of natural health products would probably not have prevented the woman's experience.
On March 28, Heather Burgher (54) took two immune booster tablets, which she said caused her to go into shock. The pills she took contained andrographis, a common herbal ingredient used to relieve cold symptoms.
Mrs Burgher said her doctor believed andrographis had caused her to go into shock.
Ministry spokesman Chris James said the ministry had not been alerted to any other problems related to the immune booster tablets.
He said the ‘‘natural health care product'' was not a medicine.
‘‘At present there is limited regulation of these products in New Zealand,'' he said.
Natural Products executive director Alison Quesnel said the Natural Health and Supplementary Products Bill would make New Zealand customers feel safer, but it would not necessarily have alerted Mrs Burgher to the risks she faced.
Ms Quesnel, the former general manager of Blackmores in New Zealand, said New Zealand was ‘‘the only OECD country in the world without a modern regulatory system for dietary supplements'' and the natural health products Bill would ‘‘make a great deal of difference to people's reassurances'', but the products were already safe.
‘‘It's always possible that there may be allergic reactions,'' she said.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia issued a safety warning about andrographis last year after it was linked to 43 cases of anaphylaxis and 78 other allergic-type reactions between 2002 and 2014. The TGA neither took further action nor required producers to remove andrographis.
The concerns were ‘‘not enough for the TGA, which is the strictest regulatory system for our product in the world'', she said.
‘‘Things that are made in New Zealand now, 99.9% are made under the Australian regulations because that's our first exporting country - the products are OK. The product that she bought, I'm sure was absolutely OK. She happened to have an allergic reaction.
‘‘This Bill we've been asking for for years ... whether or not this particular ingredient will be a permitted ingredient or not, we can't say. That detail is not done yet.
‘‘The whole purpose of the Bill is to be able to give consumers more information about our products than we can now, but also to reassure consumers that what they are taking has been tested in every quality way that needs to be tested and manufactured in licensed premises and, is ethical and has passed quality checks.''
