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.
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Cooper et al. (2007) studied this question.
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