(Photo source: official website of the Hong Kong Department of Health)
ECNS -- A Chinese medicine produced by Tongrentang Co. on the Chinese mainland and sold in Hong Kong is suspected of containing excessive levels of mercury, said the Hong Kong Department of Health.
On May 7, the department issued a notice declaring that a batch of Jian Ti Wu Bu Wan contains excessive levels of mercury and ordered all medicines bearing the name be recalled immediately.
"Initial investigation revealed that the proprietary Chinese medicine was manufactured on the mainland and was imported by Tong Ren Tang to Hong Kong for sale. The [medicine] is prescribed for health maintenance in adults, but its ingredients could not account for the presence of mercury," a spokesman for the Department of Health said in an online statement Tuesday evening.
Tests showed that samples contain mercury levels five times higher than the safe standard and may cause mouth inflammation and impairment to the nervous system and kidney, it said.
However, Tongrentang denied that the medicine involved was produced by it.
A person in charge responded that the batch number that the Hong Kong Department of Health issued was not produced by Tong Ren Tang Techonologies Co. However, she admitted that the company indeed produced "Jian Ti Wu Bu Wan".
"We're not sure whether there are fake medicines," she said.
So far, no information about the substandard medicine brand has been found on the websites of either Beijing Tongrentang Co or Beijing Tong Ren Tang Hong Kong Medicine Management. Moreover, no search results about the medicine brand were found in the database of “domestic produced medicine” and “health medicine” of the State Food and Drug Administration’s official website.
Tongrentang was involved in several substandard medicine scandals in the past.
