Carcinogenicity of Chinese medicine ingredients

The carcinogenicity of Chinese herbal ingredients has been clearly established once again and listed as banned in most countries. And the domestic attitude is painless. And this carcinogenicity ratio is extremely high and difficult to repair the genetic mutations caused! What's more, as long as you're taking herbal medicine, you're probably eating it! The following has been listed as a list of banned medicines: Aristolochia: large-leafed green woodruff, Diannan aristolochia, Nanmu Xiang, Guanmu Xiang, Sancong Tube, bract-leafed aristolochia, Cinnabar Lotus, Aristolochia, Tianxian Vine, Green Woodruff, Hulu-leafed Aristolochia, Guangbaoji, Tongcheng Tiger, Hainan Aristolochia, Hanzhong Baoji, Vine Fragrance, Nanyue Aristolochia, Concave-veined Aristolochia, Huaitong, Dorsal Snake Sheng, Guanmu Xiang, Guanmu Tong, Bone-seeking Bone Wind, and Leather-leafed Aristolochia, False Potato, Butterfly Dark Elimination, White Cinnabar Lotus, Forced Blood Thunder, White Golden Fruit Olive, Small Southern Wood Fragrance

Fifteen years ago, aristolochic acid was classified as a Group 1 carcinogen. Including Europe, the United States, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong have banned the use of traditional Chinese medicine containing aristolochic acid, but many families in mainland China are stocked with pCms containing aristolochic acid ingredients

An aristolochic acid-heavy paper, which appeared on the cover of the prestigious medical journal Science Translation Medicine, showed that the study showed that the toxicity of aristolochic acid-containing herbs, is a major cause of liver cancer in Asia. In other words, Chinese herbs containing aristolochic acid are one of the main culprits for Chinese people's susceptibility to liver cancer.

Aristolochic acid is a chemical present in some Chinese herbs that induces a very specific mutation in the cells, and now with a genetic test, you can tell right away if there's any relationship between this tumor and aristolochic acid. The researchers did genetic testing on liver cancer samples from all over Asia and found that 47% of liver cancer samples from mainland China, 78% from Taiwan, and 56% from Southeast Asia were clearly shown to be associated with aristolochic acid-induced cellular mutations.

More than 30 types of Chinese herbs are known to contain aristolochic acid. As early as September 2013, Caijing magazine published an article stating that aristolochic acid, which has been proven to be a strong carcinogen, is banned in Europe, the United States, and Taiwan and Hong Kong, but is still administered and applied as a prescription drug in mainland China.

Four years on, Chinese medicines containing aristolochic acid are stocked in many households for colds, coughs, and so on. The findings of this new study not only bring the reliability of Chinese medicine into question once again, but also point directly to the long-term threat to the nation's health.

Aristolochic Acid Legacy

In fact, in early August 2013, National Cancer Center Professor Tay Min Chin and others published a paper in Science Translational Medicine that indicated that herbs containing aristolochic acid can trigger genetic mutations in the kidney, which can lead to kidney cancer. The researchers also noted a likely link between aristolochic acid and liver cancer.

In late August of that year, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a warning on its official website, reminding the nation to be cautious of herbal medicines that are not officially registered in the United Kingdom due to their high levels of harmful toxins.

Medicines containing the ingredient aristolochic acid were prescribed in the UK in 1997, before being banned altogether. But three years ago, according to a BBC report, a 48-year-old female doctor of Chinese descent sold medicines containing aristolochic acid to a British patient, causing the patient to suffer first kidney failure and then cancer. The judge found that the case showed a lack of regulation of the safety of Chinese herbal medicines in the UK.

In 2004, the European Union issued the Directive on the Procedure for the Registration of Traditional Plant Medicines, which requires that proprietary Chinese medicines sold on the EU market must be registered by April 30, 2011, or else they will not be allowed to be sold. Although the relative simplification of the application of regulatory documents, its requirements for the registration of traditional Chinese medicines are fully equivalent to chemical drugs, but so far no Chinese enterprises through the EU registration. Li Chunxuan, a partner at Beijing Zhongyu Weisheng Intellectual Property Agency Co., Ltd, believes that the ban on proprietary Chinese medicines by the British Pharmaceutical Council is partly due to this.

The latest studies have shown conclusively that aristolochic acid is highly carcinogenic, but herbal medicines containing aristolochic acid are still sold on the mainland.