Recently, the mercury content of Beijing Tong Ren Tang Ren Dan has caused controversy, and "Tong Ren Tang Ren Dan mercury content exceeds the standard by 50,000 times" has also appeared on the Weibo hot search list.
The reporter noticed that the incident originated from an article published by a popular science blogger saying that a reader in Germany was found to have severe mercury poisoning after taking Beijing Tong Ren Tang's Ren Dan. After the reader sent Rendan for testing, the foreign test report showed that the mercury content was as high as 9729.985mg/kg.
The blogger said that although the 2020 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia does not include the drug Rendan, it is stipulated in the content of heavy metals and harmful elements in many other Chinese herbal medicines: the mercury content shall not exceed 0.2mg/kg. In other words, the mercury content of this batch of Rendan, according to domestic standards, exceeds nearly 50,000 times.
Does the mercury content in Rendan exceed the standard?
The reporter consulted Tongrentang Securities Department on this call, and the other party said that the products have undergone strict inspection and GMP certification, and are produced in accordance with standards and specifications, and further information is being verified.
Similar to the reply of the above-mentioned people from the securities department, the customer service of a number of Tongrentang's online official flagship store also told reporters that the production process of Rendan (approval number: Guoyao Zhun Zi Z11020497) produced by the unit meets the requirements of GMP, and the product quality meets the standards stipulated in the "Drug Standards of the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China (Chinese Medicine Prescription Preparations) Volume 5 WS3-B-0907-91", and each batch can only be sold after passing the inspection, and the product quality is stable, safe and reliable.
The picture shows the response of Tongrentang's customer service.
The reporter inquired about the above standards and found that the Rendan formula contains 13 flavors of Chinese herbal medicines such as tangerine peel, sandalwood, sand kernel, cinnabar, etc., of which the cinnabar content is 100 grams.
And the controversy over the "mercury content" is the Chinese medicinal material cinnabar.
At the same time, the reporter inquired about the 2020 edition of the "Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China", and in the introduction of cinnabar, it was mentioned that this product mainly contains mercury sulfide, and its functions are to clear the heart and suppress convulsions, calm the nerves, brighten the eyes, and detoxify.
Screenshot of the 2020 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China.
Although the 2020 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China does mention that the mercury content shall not exceed 0.2mg/kg in the inspection of heavy metals and harmful elements of Chinese herbal medicines such as angelica, the cinnabar containing mercury sulfide does not have this provision, and only mentions 0.1-0.5g in the dosage, and it is mostly taken in pills. The specifications of Rendan displayed on the official website are 0.3 grams per 10 capsules, and in terms of usage and dosage, it is 10-20 capsules at a time, and the adverse reactions and contraindications are not clear.
The picture shows a screenshot of the official website of Beijing Tong Ren Tang.
According to Tong Ren Tang's 2023 annual report, its operating income was about 17.861 billion yuan, an increase of 16.19% year-on-year, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was about 1.669 billion yuan, an increase of 16.92% year-on-year.
Recently, the share price of Tong Ren Tang A shares has been relatively sluggish. On April 16, the stock price closed down 0.56% to 40.96 yuan, with a total market value of 56.18 billion yuan.
Source: China News Network, China News Finance, New Evening News