Magazine deals
Hawaii kava farmers
latest setback

Consumer Reports
urges the public
to avoid kava

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By Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.com

An article in the new Consumer Reports magazine urging the public to avoid kava products is the latest blow for Hawaii growers who are already wondering if their industry can survive.

The latest Consumer Reports article, in the March issue, notes that "given the weight of evidence and in the absence of a ban in the U.S., Consumer Reports medical consultants now urge everyone to avoid kava."

The latest country to ban the sale of kava products is the United Kingdom, which last month prohibited sales of medicinal products containing kava.

The U.K. ban follows other European Union countries where kava has been banned. Elsewhere, Canada, Singapore and Australia have also ordered kava sales stopped.

The government actions stem from German reports of kava being linked to serious liver damage. German pharmaceutical companies have been among the biggest importers of Hawaiian kava.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement about kava products in March 2002, but not an outright ban.

The FDA said there had been 25 reports from other countries about liver-related injuries. The FDA said that although liver damage appears to be rare, it believes consumers should be advised of the potential risk and said it planned to study the matter further. A subsequent report has yet to be released.

Growers of kava, or awa as it is known locally, and others associated with the industry plan to meet in Hilo later this month to talk about what can be done to bolster the industry.

The article is nothing new, local advocates say, but adds to an already difficult situation.

"It's been a disaster for the awa growers here in Hawaii," said Cliff Souza, of the Big Island's Maui Kava Co. Souza said a number of local farmers, unable to find a market for their crops, have already started plowing their awa plants into the ground and replacing them with other crops.

The Department of Agriculture's Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service estimated farm revenues from the sale of kava in 2001 were $585,000, nearly five times the farm value recorded in 2000. Production of awa reached 450,000 pounds that year.

The number of farms growing awa also jumped. Between 2000 and the end of 2001, the number of farms raising the plants grew to 65 from 50.

The budding industry appeared poised for takeoff. Then the German government announced a ban near the end of 2001 and other countries soon followed.

The meeting to talk about what can be done locally to save the industry will be Feb. 22 at the University of Hawaii's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources office in Hilo, said UH professor and kava specialist Skip Bittenbender.

Bittenbender said there are a number of studies underway at the university to sort out the kava controversy.

Since people in the Pacific have been drinking kava brewed from the plant for thousands of years with apparently no ill effects, Bittenbender says a closer look is in order for capsules containing the kava extract which are now being sold as dietary supplements.

"Just a small number of people had adverse reactions. As far as I know, it was the capsules, so was there an artifact in the capsules? Was something missing or did the prevalence and availability to a large number of people make it more likely that there would be an adverse reaction?" he said.

Bittenbender also raised the possibility that because of the high demand during the 1990s, perhaps other parts of the kava plant were being used, since it takes between 18 months and two years for young plants to mature.

"We have a saying in the fruit industry: High prices ripen fruit. So perhaps that might have led people to throw other plant parts into sales and so we are now looking at what is in other parts of the plant," he said.

Another joint project between the college and UH's John A. Burns School of Medicine will test liver cell cultures by exposing them to varying doses of kavalactone, the active ingredient in kava that depending on its level, makes kava valuable, Bittenbender said.

But until all those studies are completed, it's too early to say what caused the problems that eventually led to the ban, he said.