It is not so much regulation as where's the money to do studies on them? Look at the mushroom business; there are a lot of poisonous ones out there but the regulation is on what is being bought/sold, not mushrooms themselves. "Food", which herbs are, is different. There are research studies starting on 5 HTP NYU Langone Medical Center but the T stands for L-Tryptophan and there's a "Peak X" factor in there that killed lots of people in the 1980s. The public likes to jump on every bandwagon going and then get mad at the regulators when people start dying.

One can't have it both ways, irresponsible word-of-mouth, "my-friend-Shelia's-first-cousin-twice-removed-Joey-says. . ." or, "I got this in an email. . ." and yelling at drug companies to hurry up and get drugs on the market to "save lives" and then blaming someone else when one's health is damaged. I don't know which I feel is worse, the supplement ads on TV claiming to cure all that I don't know is wrong with me but worry could be or the lawyer ads if you have had a "transvaginal mesh, bladder mesh, pelvic sling and bladder sling" operation gone wrong or taken a "bad" drug. Don't forget, time to file claims is running out!