Toxicology 101 for Botanicals & Natural Products: A Hands-On Short Course at ICSB 2026
19 April 2026 The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) is offering a special training course titled “Cultivating Safety: Toxicology 101 for Botanicals and Natural Products” on Sunday, April 19, 2026, from 12:00-4:00 PM CT in Oxford, Mississippi, as part of the International Conference on the Science of Botanicals (ICSB). This interactive short course will offer…
Society of Toxicology 2026 Annual Meeting and ToxExpo
22 – 25 March 2026 The Botanical Safety Consortium will be attending SOT 2026 in San Diego, CA, USA. Presentations Tuesday 24 March 9:15 am PT Evaluating the hepatotoxic potential of Green Tea and Kava Root Extract in primary human hepatocytes – presented by Kirsten Eckstrum, FDA Tuesday 24 March 1:00 – 1:15 pm PT…
New publication: An exploratory evaluation of the interaction risk between herbal products and pharmaceutical medicines used concurrently for disease management in Blantyre, Malawi
🌿 The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) has released a timely new study as part of its Global Outreach Program: “An exploratory evaluation of the interaction risk between herbal products and pharmaceutical medicines used concurrently for disease management in Blantyre, Malawi.” This work was led by researchers at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences with input from…
New publication: Dose-response assessment of neuroactive botanical extracts and their bioactive constituents using microelectrode array (MEA) recordings in rat primary cortical cultures
The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) has published a new study titled “Dose-response assessment of neuroactive botanical extracts and their bioactive constituents using microelectrode array (MEA) recordings in rat primary cortical neurons” in a special issue for the Botanical Safety Consortium in Pharmaceutical Biology. This work was led by the Westerink Lab at Utrecht University with…
New publication: From Vision to Reality: Five Years of the Botanical Safety Consortium
The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) was launched in 2019 to unite scientists from government, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations in advancing the safety evaluation of botanicals as complex mixtures. A new paper, From Vision to Reality: Five Years of the Botanical Safety Consortium, reflects on the consortium’s progress and outlines what comes next. Over its…
New publication: Developing an approach for evaluating the cardiotoxic potential of botanicals
Botanical supplements are widely used but often lack rigorous safety testing – especially for potential cardiotoxicity. A new publication from the HESI Botanical Safety Consortium’s Cardiotoxicity Working Group outlines a human-relevant strategy using New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) to assess cardiac risks of botanicals. These include the use of in vitro assays such as microelectrode arrays…
Botanical Safety Consortium 2025 Annual Meeting
Event Recap • 2025 BSC Annual Meeting • 5-6 November 2025 Day 1 Recordings Join HESI Global’s Botanical Safety Consortium for its 2025 BSC Annual Meeting, a two-day virtual event advancing the science of botanical safety assessment. Day 1: Open to all and will feature updates from working groups on topics like genotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, and…
New publication: A multi-detector analytical approach for characterizing complex botanical extracts: a case study on ashwagandha.
A multi-detector analytical approach for characterizing complex botanical extracts: a case study on ashwagandha. Sica et al. Anal Bioanal Chem (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-025-06006-8 Ensuring the safety and authenticity of botanical supplements starts with understanding what’s inside. In a new case study on ashwagandha, the HESI Botanical Safety Consortium showcases a multi-detector analytical platform designed to do…
2025 Personal Care Products Council Science Symposium & Expo
29 October 2025 HESI Global’s Connie Mitchell presents at the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) Science Symposium & Expo on October 29, 2025. Her talks is titled “Rooted in Science: Best Practices for Botanical Safety Assessment.” This session will spotlight the scientific advances and safety evaluation strategies developed through the Botanical Safety Consortium, a multi-sector initiative enhancing the…
BSC Call for Experts: Zebrafish and C. elegans Behavioral Assays
The Botanical Safety Consortium is seeking experts in Zebrafish embryo and larval behavioral assays C. elegans behavioral assays These experts will support the Neurotoxicity Working Group in reviewing a dataset to evaluate whether these existing tools are suitable for assessing botanicals as complex mixtures. We are asking experts to attend 1-2 virtual meetings (each model…
The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) was officially convened in November 2019, as the result of a Memorandum of Understanding between the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the non-profit Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI).
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Our current charge is to evaluate the suitability of assays for botanicals as complex mixtures.
Latest News
Toxicology 101 for Botanicals & Natural Products: A Hands-On Short Course at ICSB 2026
19 April 2026 The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) is offering a special training course titled “Cultivating Safety: Toxicology 101 for Botanicals and Natural Products” on Sunday, April…
Society of Toxicology 2026 Annual Meeting and ToxExpo
22 – 25 March 2026 The Botanical Safety Consortium will be attending SOT 2026 in San Diego, CA, USA. Presentations Tuesday 24 March 9:15 am PT Evaluating the…
New publication: An exploratory evaluation of the interaction risk between herbal products and pharmaceutical medicines used concurrently for disease management in Blantyre, Malawi
🌿 The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) has released a timely new study as part of its Global Outreach Program: “An exploratory evaluation of the interaction risk between herbal…
New publication: Dose-response assessment of neuroactive botanical extracts and their bioactive constituents using microelectrode array (MEA) recordings in rat primary cortical cultures
The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) has published a new study titled “Dose-response assessment of neuroactive botanical extracts and their bioactive constituents using microelectrode array (MEA) recordings in rat…
New publication: From Vision to Reality: Five Years of the Botanical Safety Consortium
The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) was launched in 2019 to unite scientists from government, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations in advancing the safety evaluation of botanicals as complex…
New publication: Developing an approach for evaluating the cardiotoxic potential of botanicals
Botanical supplements are widely used but often lack rigorous safety testing – especially for potential cardiotoxicity. A new publication from the HESI Botanical Safety Consortium’s Cardiotoxicity Working Group…
Botanical Safety Consortium 2025 Annual Meeting
Event Recap • 2025 BSC Annual Meeting • 5-6 November 2025 Day 1 Recordings Join HESI Global’s Botanical Safety Consortium for its 2025 BSC Annual Meeting, a two-day…
New publication: A multi-detector analytical approach for characterizing complex botanical extracts: a case study on ashwagandha.
A multi-detector analytical approach for characterizing complex botanical extracts: a case study on ashwagandha. Sica et al. Anal Bioanal Chem (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-025-06006-8 Ensuring the safety and authenticity of…
2025 Personal Care Products Council Science Symposium & Expo
29 October 2025 HESI Global’s Connie Mitchell presents at the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) Science Symposium & Expo on October 29, 2025. Her talks is titled “Rooted in Science:…
BSC Call for Experts: Zebrafish and C. elegans Behavioral Assays
The Botanical Safety Consortium is seeking experts in Zebrafish embryo and larval behavioral assays C. elegans behavioral assays These experts will support the Neurotoxicity Working Group in reviewing…
