Chi Y W, Chen S L, Yang M H, Hwang R C, Chu M L
Department of Pediatrics, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Zhonghua Min Guo Xiao Er Ke Yi Xue Hui Za Zhi. 1993 May-Jun;34(3):181-90.
Heavy metal intoxication of newborn infants fed with "Ba-Pao-Neu-Hwang-San" has been reported every year by many hospitals in Taiwan. About nine years ago, the National Laboratories of Foods and Drugs of the Department of Health, Executive Yuan, received one case report of a five month old female infant who died as a result of long term feeding with "Ba-Pao-Neu-Hwang-San". The drug was found to have contained lead 44,000 ppm. Although this unfortunate incident was propagated by most newspapers, the prescription of this ancient Chinese medicinal preparation is still widely accepted by ordinary people. Herbal medicine doctors prefer complex mineral drugs as did their ancestors thousands of years ago. In the last two years, we have collected 5 samples of "Ba-Pao-Neu-Hwang-San" from different manufacturers and measured the concentration of 16 heavy metals (including Cadmium, Mercury, Arsenic, Lead, Chromium, Manganese, Selenium, Germanium, Nickel, Calcium, Magnesium, Aluminum, Iron, Copper, Zinc, and Vanadium) in these drugs with Inductively-Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry and Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The result of our survey revealed that the first sample (from Tainan) contained mercury 52,800 ppm, the fourth (from Ping-tung) contained mercury 34,500 ppm, and the fifth (from Sin-chu) contained mercury 65,700 ppm. The mercurial contents of these samples were apparently too high to be a safe drug.
台湾多家医院每年都有关于喂食“八宝牛黄散”的新生儿重金属中毒的报告。大约九年前，行政院卫生署食品药物国家实验室收到一份病例报告，一名五个月大的女婴因长期喂食“八宝牛黄散”死亡。发现该药物含铅量达44,000 ppm。尽管这一不幸事件被大多数报纸报道，但这种古老的中药制剂的处方仍被普通人广泛接受。中医像他们数千年前的祖先一样，喜欢使用复杂的矿物药。在过去两年里，我们从不同厂家收集了5份“八宝牛黄散”样本，并用电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法和石墨炉原子吸收光谱法测量了这些药物中16种重金属（包括镉、汞、砷、铅、铬、锰、硒、锗、镍、钙、镁、铝、铁、铜、锌和钒）的浓度。我们的调查结果显示，第一个样本（来自台南）含汞量达52,800 ppm，第四个（来自屏东）含汞量达34,500 ppm，第五个（来自新竹）含汞量达65,700 ppm。这些样本中的汞含量显然过高，无法成为安全药物。
