ADULTERATION OF HERBAL/CRUDE DRUGSDr.U.Srinivasa, D.Pharm, M. Pharm., M.Phil., Ph.D. Professor and Head, (Dept. of Pharmacognosy) Srinivas college of pharmacy, Mangalore. Email. usreenivas1966@rediffmail.com

DEFINATIONAdulteration is a practice of substituting original crude drug partially or whole with other similar looking substances but the latter is either free from or inferior in chemical and therapeutic properties. OR

Adulteration in simple words is the debasement of an article. ORAdulteration is broadly defined as admixture or substitution of original or genuine article/ drug with inferior, defective or otherwise useless or harmful substances.

The adulterant must be some material which in both cheap and available in fairly large amounts. Substitution is the addition of an entirely different article in place of that which is required e.g. supply of cheap cottonseed oil in place of olive oil.

ADULTRANT :

TYPES OF ADULTERATION1. Deliberate ( Intentional ) adulteration2. Accidental ( In-deliberate) adulteration

1. Deliberate adulteration ( Intentional )Deliberate adulteration Are normally commercial mainly with the intention of enhancement of profits

2. In-deliberate ( Accidental ) adulterationIn - Deliberate adulteration Are normally naturally occurring, accidental, careless or by ignorance and non harmful.

REASONS FOR ADULTERATION1. Scarcity of the drug2. The high price of the drug in the market, eg: Clove, Cinnamon, Cardamom 3. It is very common with the contraband drugs e.g. Opium

Conditions or Stages of adulterationThe term 'adulteration' or debasement of an article covers a number of conditions, which may be deliberate or In- deliberate.Inferiority,Spoilage,Deterioration, Admixture, Sophistication ,Substitution

Inferiority is a natural substandard condition (e.g. where a crop is taken whose natural constituent is below the minimum standard for that particular drug) which can be avoided by more careful selection of the plant material.

Inferiority

Spoilage is a substandard condition produced by microbial or other pest infestation, which makes a product unfit for consumption, which can be avoided by careful attention to the drying, and storage conditions. Spoilage

Deterioration is an impairment of the quality or value of an article due to destruction or abstraction of valuable constituents by bad treatment or aging or to the deliberate extraction of the constituents and the sale of the residue as the original drugs.

Deterioration

Admixture is the addition of one article to another through accident, ignorance or carelessness e.g. inclusion of soil on an underground organ or the co-collection of two similar species.

Admixture

Sophistication is the deliberate addition of spurious or inferior material with intent to defraud; such materials are carefully produced and may appear at first sight to be genuine e.g. powder ginger may be diluted with starch with addition of little coloring material to give the correct shade of yellow colour. Sophistication

Substitution is the addition of an entirely different article in place of that which is required e.g. supply of cheap cottonseed oil in place of olive oil.

Substitution

METHODS OF ADULTERATION OR SUBSTITUTION OF HERBAL DRUGSSubstitution with Inferior/Sub- standard Commercial VarietiesDue to morphological resemblance to the authentic drugs, different inferior commercial varieties are used as adulterant which may or may not have any chemical or therapeutic potential as that original natural drug

This is the most common type of adulterationEg. Arabian Senna and Dog Senna have been used to adulterate Indian Senna (Cassia senna) Eg. Medicinal Ginger(Zingiber officinale) is replaced by Japanese ginger ( Zingiber mioga ) .

Here the substances artificially prepared to resemble the original drug ( provide the general form and appearance i.e colour, shape, size) and are used as substitute of the original one. Adulteration by Artificially Manufactured Substitutes

Generally , this practice is followed for much costlier drugsEg. Artificial invert sugar for HoneyEg. Paraffin wax made yellow coloration and substituted for Bees wax.Eg. Compressed chicory in place of Coffee

In this type the same plant drug is admixed but it is devoid of any medicinally active constituents as they are already extracted out. (no active medicinal components as they have already been extracted out). Substitution by Exhausted Drugs

This practice is most common in case of volatile oil containing materials like clove, fennel , cardamom, cinnamon etc., Some times , natural characters of exhausted drugs like colour and taste are manipulated by adding other additives and then it is substituted

Eg. Exhausted Clove to CloveEg. Exhausted Ginger to Ginger

The inferior drugs used, may or may not have any therapeutic or chemical component as that of original drug . Due to morphological resemblance to the genuine drug , they are marketed as adulterants . Substitution by Superficially Similar but Inferior /Cheaper Substances

Eg. Mother Clove and Clove stalks are mixed with Clove Eg. Bees wax is substituted by Japanese waxEg. Indian dill with European dill

Here, the wastes from market are collected and admixed with original drug. This is particularly noticed for liquids and unorganized drugs.Adulteration by Addition of Worthless Heavy Materials ( Harmful Adulteration)

Eg. Limestone in Asafoetida Eg. Pieces of amber colored glass in ColophonyEg. Addition of rodent waste matter to cardamom seed is a very harmful adulterationEg. White stones in rice

Sometimes to fortify inferior natural products, synthetic principles are added Eg. Adding Citral to Oil of Lemon Eg. Benzyl benzoate to Balsam of Peru etc.Addition of Synthetic Principles

Some times, the other plants growing along with medicinal plant are mixed due to their resembling colour, odour and in some cases constituents.Usage of Vegetative Matter from the Same Plant

Eg. The lower plants like Moss, Liver warts and epiphytes growing on plant (bark) portion are mixed with Cinnamon or CinchonaEg : Stems portions are mixed along with leaf drugs like Lobelia, Senna, Datura etc

8. Adulteration of PowdersBesides the entire drugs, the powdered forms are frequently , found to be adulterated.Eg. Red Sanders wood n CapsicumEg. Exhausted Ginger powder in powdered GingerEg. The powdered bark is frequently adulterated with Brick powder