Title 15. DIFFERENT METHODS OF ADULTERATION OF CRUDE DRUGS.pdf ✅

PHARMD GURU Page 1 INTRODUCTION:  The adulteration and substitution are major problem in growing herbal industries. It causes major threat in the research on commercial natural products.  The deforestation and extinction of many species and incorrect identification of many plants has resulted in adulteration and substitution of raw herbal drugs.  In ancient times most of the drugs used for cure of health problems were of plant origin but lack of proper description and proper authentication has made difficult to provide correct identity of the herbal drugs.  Not only that, due to lack of standardization method, the herbal drugs are still in confusion and controversies for choice of the allied species, which results in adulteration of the herbal drugs.  The term is derived from the Latin adultero, which in its various inflections signifies to defile, to debase, to corrupt, to sophisticate, to falsify, to counterfeit. DEFINITION: Ultimately it is defined as a practice of substituting original crude drug, partially or wholly, with other similar looking substances, but the latter is either free from or inferior in chemical or therapeutic properties or adulteration is defined as mixing or substituting the original drug material with other spurious, inferior, defective, spoiled, useless other parts of same or different harmful substances or drug that do not comply with the official standards.  The constituents that are added to the original substances are known as adulterants and the practice or process is known as adulteration.  The whole admixed products are known as adulterated products.  The plant based drugs are adulterated by substitution with substandard commercial varieties, inferior drugs or artificially manufactured commodities. OBJECTIVES:  To increase the bulk or weight of the article.  To improve its appearance. DIFFERENT METHODS OF ADULTERATION OF CRUDE DRUGS
PHARMD GURU Page 2  To give it a false strength.  To rob it of its most valuable constituents.  To make product cost benefit.  Scarcity of drugs. CONDITIONS OF ADULTERATION: 1. DETERIORATION:  It is the impairment in the quality of a drug. This condition is 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.  Apart from this condition, the crude drugs are also prone to deterioration on storage.  The shelf-life of crude drugs is influenced by many factors which include not only the quality of storage conditions but also the stability of the secondary metabolites present.  Several factors are to be considered for the detrimental effects on the stored products. 2. ADMIXTURE: It is the addition of one article to another due to ignorance or carelessness or accidentally. Example: inclusion of soil on an underground organ or the co-collection of two similar species. 3. SOPHISTICATION: It is the intentional or deliberate type of adulteration by adding 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.
PHARMD GURU Page 3 4. SUBSTITUTION: It occurs when some totally different substance is added in place of original drug. e.g., supply of cheap cottonseed oil in place of olive oil. 5. INFERIORITY: It refers to any sub-standard drug. This condition is like a crop is taken whose natural constituent is below the minimum standard for that particular drug. It can be avoided by more careful selection of the plant material. 6. SPOILAGE: The deterioration due to the attack of microorganisms. This condition makes the product unfit for consumption, which can be avoided by careful attention to the drying and storage conditions. ADULTERATION: Adulteration generally takes place either directly (intentionally) or indirectly (unintentionally). 1. DIRECT ADULTERATION: This type of practice is mainly encouraged by traders who are reluctant to pay premium prices for herbs of superior quality and hence are inclined to purchase only the cheaper products. Therefore producers and traders sell the herbs of inferior quality. In this type of adulteration, a herbal drug is substituted partially or fully with other inferior products which have morphological resemblance to the authentic herb and many other inferior commercial varieties. They may or may not have any chemical or therapeutic potential. This practice is most common in the case of volatile oil containing materials. Foreign matters like any other parts of the same plant with no active ingredients, fine sand and stones,
PHARMD GURU Page 4 dust, dried clay, manufactured artefacts and synthetic inferior principles are used as substitutes (Fig. 1.4). 2. INDIRECT ADULTERATION: This type of adulteration is also known as unintentional or undeliberate adulteration that accidentally occurs without any intention of the manufacturer or supplier. Sometimes due to improper evaluation, an authentic drug partially or fully replaced with the active ingredient which enters in the market. Generally, this practice happens at geographical sources, growing conditions, processing and storage conditions that influence the quality of the drug. DIRECT ADULTERATIONS: 1. WITH ARTIFICIALLY MANUFACTURED SUBSTANCES: This type of adulteration is done for costlier drugs. Artificially prepared substances resemble the original drug and are not separated or identified by naked eyes and these products are used as substitutes. Generally they are colored substances. Examples: Compressed Chicory in place of coffee, yellow coloured praffin wax for bees wax, properly cut and shaved baswood for nutmeg, artificial invert sugar for honey, Musk is adulterated with dust and dried blood; Tinospora cordifolia extract adulterated with arrow root powder. 2. SUPERFICIALLY SIMILAR INFERIOR DRUGS: These drugs are with or without chemical or therapeutic values as that of original drug. Due to their morphological resemblance to the authentic drug, they are marketed as adulterants. Ailanthus leaves are used to substitute belladonna leaves, Carthamus tinctorious flowers are mixed with costly saffron flowers and bees wax is substituted with Japan wax and mother clove with original clove, Strychnous nux- blanda or S.potatorum in place of S. nux-vomica, Capsicum annuum in place of