Excess lead in Chinese pill

[Shin Orochi]

May 6, 2010
Excess lead in Chinese pill

<!-- by line --> By Ernest Luis
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This picture shows the Zhongya Brand Tzepao Sanpien Pill with packaging. -- PHOTO: HSA

IF YOU have been consuming the Chinese Proprietary Medicine (CPM) labelled 'Zhongya Brand Tzepao Sanpien Pill' in Singapore, be warned. The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has detected excessive levels of lead in a batch during regular product quality sampling checks for such health products. Lead, when consumed in large amounts or over a prolonged period of time, may result in lead toxicity and the symptoms may include abdominal pain, vomiting, muscle weakness and cramps.

Zhongya Brand Tzepao Sanpien Pill is manufactured by Yantai Zhongya Pharmaceutical, China, and distributed locally by Sea Gull Trading. One batch of this product (B/N 551001) was tested by HSA's Pharmaceutical Laboratory to contain about 40ppm (parts per million) of lead, which exceeds the legal permissible limit of 20ppm allowed for CPM in Singapore. This batch of CPM had been sold by medical halls between December 2009 to April 2010.

The sale of this affected batch has since been stopped and medical halls have already been informed to remove the affected stocks from the shelves. So far, no adverse events associated with this product have been publicly reported to HSA. But as the affected batch has been sold locally, HSA is warning people who may have bought this batch, to stop consuming it.