Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Oct;70(19):1694-9.
doi: 10.1080/15287390701434885.

Public health risks from heavy metals and metalloids present in traditional Chinese medicines

Kelli Cooper  1 , Barry Noller, Des Connell, Jimmy Yu, Ross Sadler, Henry Olszowy, Gary Golding, Ujang Tinggi, Michael R Moore, Stephen Myers
Affiliations

Public health risks from heavy metals and metalloids present in traditional Chinese medicines

Kelli Cooper et al. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2007 Oct.

Abstract

Out of 247 traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) investigated, a proportion were contaminated with arsenic (5-15%), lead (approximately 5%), and mercury (approximately 65%). Some preparations exceeded the tolerable daily intake (TDI) for males and females for arsenic (4 and 5 products, respectively), lead (1 and 2 products), and mercury (5 and 7 products). These exceedances were as high as 2760-fold, which posed a potential danger to public health. As many users are known to self-prescribe, there is a substantial risk of poisoning from the consumption of these contaminated TCM.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources