Women who lost babies while on herb product to have samples tested
The requests came from the Dublin City Coroner's Office raising fears the Chinese product may induce abortion.
The toxicologist Dr Neil O'Brien said because doctors in the laboratory do not know what exactly is in the drug in question due to the lack of regulation surrounding the sale and supply of such products in Ireland they could not determine if the drug caused the death of a baby.
"We have had two requests recently from the coroner's office to check this drug, but when we don't know what we're looking for, it is nearly impossible to screen the samples," Dr O'Brien said.
Herbal medicines in Ireland are not listed as medicinal products, and there is no regulated list of their ingredients.
"We don't know if the drug caused the baby's death because when I got the drug in the lab, I didn't know what to look for or what was in it that could induce abortion," Dr O'Brien said, according to a report in the Irish Medical Times.
"These products need to be regulated," he said.
The need for, and the difficulties associated with, the regulation of herbal medicinal products has been a source of concern for the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) for years. According to the IMB herbal medicinal products are among the most popular medicines used for self-treatment of minor medical conditions.
"The growing public demand for herbal medicinal products and the associated increase in their use is evidenced by the large number of shops dedicated to the sale and supply of such products as well as the resurgence of the practice of herbal medicine," according to the IMB website.
"Effective regulation of herbal medicinal products is considered necessary to ensure safe products of appropriate quality continue to be available in pharmacies, health food stores and other retail outlets," the statement says.
The number of herbal products on the market is put at 2,246 by the IMB.
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