Study: Most medicines made in China are counterfeit

The growing popularity of medical products based on the “traditional” Chinese pharmacopoeia (primarily “traditional” refers to pills, tablets and powders invented by Chinese alchemists relatively recently) is causing considerable concern among doctors, not only in Western countries, but also in our country, regarding this suspicious pharmaceutical product.

Researchers compared what was written on the packaging of "traditional" Chinese medicine drugs with their contents.

Despite the enormous amounts of money involved in traditional Chinese medicine (we're talking about billions of dollars a year), no one can say for sure what is actually being bought and sold. Obviously, the ingredients are listed on the jars and boxes, but when experts tried to study what these miracle potions were made of, they were in for a surprise: the labels on the packaging were very poor at showing the actual composition of the medicines.

Previously, attempts had been made to study traditional Chinese medicine for unfamiliar components and potentially toxic substances. But almost always they ended with the conclusion that “there is something there,” without any reliable specifics. In most cases, this was due to the imperfection of the equipment and methods of analysis. This time, scientists from the Murdoch Institute (Australia) took on this task, armed with the latest scientific technology. For example, their arsenal included DNA sequencers, which had previously been used in the species analysis of intestinal microflora; these devices allow reading a huge number of heterogeneous DNA.

The researchers studied DNA from 15 over-the-counter traditional Chinese medicine products, including powders, pills, and medicinal teas. In total, about 49,000 fragments of genetic code were analyzed; 68 plant species were identified.

As it turned out, instead of concentrate of Stephanie, a tropical plant of the genus Moonseed, Chinese slimming teas contain an extract of Aristolochia, a plant of the genus Aristolochiaceae, a woody vine that looks like Stephanie, but is related to plants of a completely different category. Aristolochic acid, which is part of this extract, is considered the strongest oncogene, which for many years caused, as it turned out, a local epidemic of nephropathy and bladder cancer among the population of the Balkans, which for a long time remained a mystery to medical workers (as it turned out, Aristolochia grains got into the flour from which bread was baked).

At present, aristolochic acid is officially classified as a category I oncogene, and adding concentrates obtained from it to medical preparations and food supplements is strictly prohibited, even by the Chinese authorities.

Could it be this unnamed component that explains the high incidence of kidney and bladder cancer in Taiwanese people?

Elderly Taiwanese suffering from kidney cancer used medicinal preparations with aristolochia long before its official ban in 2003. Although, as demonstrated by DNA analysis of Chinese "classic" substances, made by experts from the Perth Institute (Australia), Chinese pharmacists continue to use unsafe plants. Thus, 4 out of 15 studied preparations, in other words, almost a quarter, contained a concentrate of asarum - another representative of the dangerous genus of Aristolochia. Preparations that contain this oncogene are created to relieve inflammation in the respiratory tract, as well as to treat toothache and bronchial asthma, that is, not exotic, but absolutely popular diseases.

In the samples, the presence of Aristolochia DNA was traditionally accompanied by the presence of other toxins. Among the other "secret" components were ginseng, soy and nut-bearing species, which have the potential to provoke allergies.

As for animals, the medical preparations were full of DNA from endangered species, such as the saiga (on the verge of extinction) or the Himalayan black bear. Half of the preparations contained DNA from a whole set of animals, 3/4 of which were not mentioned on the packaging. Interestingly, the manufacturers did not mention only rare and endangered species, hunting of which is prohibited by law; among other things, the common Asian buffalo, cows and goats were left “off-screen”. According to the scientists, it seems that the manufacturers simply mixed everything that came to hand.

As for the species listed in the Red Book, it has long been known that almost all of them are exterminated to make "miraculous potions". However, it seems that not only parts of the bodies of saigas and rare bears, but also the horns and hooves of ordinary cows and goats possess magical, healing powers.

It should be noted that the data obtained does not cast doubt on traditional Chinese medicine at all. Apparently, the Chinese could not resist the desire to counterfeit their medicine. So it would be more accurate to declare a threat of pseudo-Chinese medicine. However, it is not entirely clear what an ordinary buyer should do in this situation: not everyone has a state-of-the-art DNA-analyzing device at home.

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