Chinese herbal cough pill recalled

A Chinese herbal medicine company has issued an urgent recall of two batches of its products.

A Chinese herbal medicine company issued an urgent recall of two batches of its products, after the Therapeutic Goods Administration found poisons linked to cancer in cough medicine.

Beijing Tong Ren Tang Australia recalled its Bronchi-cough pills after traces of aristolochic acid and amygdalin, two dangerous contaminants, were found in products marketed as relieving cough symptoms.

Both substances are listed in Schedule 10 of the Poisons Standard, which means they pose an unacceptable health risk to consumers. According to the TGA, ­ingestion of the poisons, even in very small amounts, can be dangerous.

Aristolochic acids are linked to kidney failure and cancer. The substance was banned in Australia after several women, all on the same weight-loss substance containing aristolochic acids, were hospitalised, suffering from rapid kidney failure.

“There is no established safe exposure level to aristolochic acids, which have been linked to kidney problems and urinary trace cancers,” the TGA said in a recall statement.

Amygdalin, once falsely claimed to treat cancer, contains cyanide and can have serious side-effects including liver damage, a lack of oxygen to the blood tissues, nerve damage and possibly death.

A spokesman for Beijing Tong Ren Tang said the TGA found traces of the substances in its medicine.

“We haven’t come to a ­mutual agreement with TGA but those two substances have been found in the medicine, but from our end we’re going to carry on conducting a search into this,” he said.

In response to questions over whether Beijing Tong Ren Tang was concerned about the TGA finding traces of the substances when the company hadn’t, the BTRT spokesman said “it’s ­complicated”.