HEAVY METALS IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

HEAVY METALS IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

Yun-Wen CHI, Shun-Long CHEN ,* Mo-Hsiung YANG ,*
and Mong-Ling CHU **

Department of Pediatrics, 815 Air Force Hospital,
Ping-Tung;
Institute of Nuclear Science, National Tsing-Hwa
University,* Sin-Chu,
Department of Pediatrics, Tri-Service General
Hospital, National Defense Medical Center,**
Taipei;
Taiwan, R.O.C.

Traditional Chinese medicine are still widely
used by natives in Taiwan.Some Traditional Chinese
medicine prepared with ancient formulas have been
found to contain some heavy metals.

Herbal medicine doctors prefer complex mineral
drugs as did their ancestors thousands of years ago.
About nine years ago, the National Laboratories
of Foods and Drugs, Department of Health, Executive
Yuan received one case report of five months old
female infant died of longterm feeding with "
Ba-Pao-Neu-Hwang-San ". The drug contained lead
44,000 ppm.

In the last two years, we have collected 11
drug samples from different manufacturers and
measured the concentration of heavy metals in these
drugs with Inductively-Coupled Plasma Atomic
Emission Spectrometry and Graphite Furnace Atomic
Absorption Spectrometry. The result of our survey
revealed that the first sample (from Tainan )
contained mercury 52,800 ppm, the fourth ( from
Ping-tung )contained mercury 34,500 ppm, and the
fifth ( from Sin-chu ) contained mercury 65,700
ppm. The mercurial contents of these samples were
apparently too high to be a safe drug.