Life of Guangzhou - Tainted Medicinal Herbs Flood Guangzhou Markets

Local media in Guangzhou recently uncovered a worrying practice in the medicinal herbs business. Merchants appear to be using a dangerous technique to preserve and improve the appearance of their products which consists in simply spraying sulfur onto them.

Sulfur found in the medicinal herbs (xkb.com.cn)

The tainted medicinal herbs (xkb.com.cn)

Sulfur has long been used in the industry to preserve herbs, but producers use a complex method which is monitored and controlled whilst merchants today have taken matters into their own hands. According to an insider, this scandal is "the 'melamine' of the medicinal herbs industry" and is a serious health hazard which can lead to eye diseases and serious adverse reactions.

The reporters who uncovered this illegal practice randomly tested 13 kinds of medicinal herbs in Guangzhou and found that over half of them contained more than 500 mg/kg of sulfur, far more than the international criterion. In Korea for instance, the law stipulates that the sulfur content must not exceed 30 mg/kg.

(By Robert Wang, David Keyton)

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