Folk medicines contain lead

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Folk medicines contain lead

By MONICA RHOR

Associated Press Writer

Traditional remedies blamed for lead poisoning

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HOUSTON (AP) -- didn't mean to poison her children. Quite the

opposite. Worried about her daughters' lack of appetite, the young

Houston mother was merely following her grandmother's advice when

she gave the two girls and a niece a dose of " greta " - a Mexican

folk medicine used to treat children's stomach ailments.

What , who asked that her last name not be used, did not know

then, but now will never forget, is that the bright orange powder is

nearly 90 percent lead.

Fortunately, doctors detected the dangerously high levels of the

toxic metal in the little girls' blood during a routine checkup a

week later.

But others are not so lucky. Health departments around the country

say traditional medicines used by many immigrants from Latin

America, India and other parts of Asia are the second most common

source of lead poisoning in the U.S. - surpassed only by lead paint -

and may account for tens of thousands of such cases among children

each year.

Dozens of adults and children have become gravely ill or died after

taking lead-laden medicine over the past eight years, according to

federal and local health officials.

The dangerous medicines are manufactured outside the United States

and sold in the U.S. by folk healers known as curanderas and in

ethnic grocery stores and neighborhood shops that offer herbs and

charms. They are usually brought into the country by travelers in

their suitcases, thereby slipping past government regulators.

" No one's testing these medications, " said Dr. Stefanos Kales, an

assistant professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of

Public Health who researched the problem. " There's no guarantee it

doesn't have dangerous levels of lead. "

Lead is added to many of the concoctions because of its supposed

curative properties, even though doctors say it has no proven

medical benefits. In other cases, powders and pills become

contaminated with lead from soil or through the manufacturing

process.

" Instead of doing something good for them, I did them more harm, "

said , whose children have shown no ill effects. " I was so

afraid of all the things that could happen to them. It was a

terrible experience. "

In County, which includes Houston, traditional medicines are

blamed for nearly one-fifth of all cases in which children were

found to have high levels of lead. In Arizona, home remedies account

for one-fourth of childhood lead poisoning cases.

In Texas, California and Arizona, lead poisoning has been traced to

Mexican remedies such as greta, azarcon and rueda - powders that are

given to treat constipation in children and contain as much as 90

percent lead. In New York City and Rhode Island, high lead levels in

the blood have been tied to litargirio, a powder containing up to 79

percent lead. It is used by Dominican immigrants for such ills as

foot fungus and body odor.

Dangerous amounts of lead have also been found in ayurvedic

medicines, which are used in India and commonly found in South Asian

immigrant communities in New York, Chicago and Houston. These

medicines include ghasard, a brown powder given to relieve

constipation in babies, and mahayogaraj gugullu, for high blood

pressure.

Traditional medicines may account for up to 30 percent of all

childhood lead poisoning cases in the United States, according to

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Environmental

Protection Agency estimates 240,000 U.S. children were diagnosed

with high blood lead levels in 2004 to 2006.

Many more cases are almost certainly going undetected. Only 14

percent of children are tested for lead nationwide. And the source

of lead often cannot be traced in cases where paint is not the

culprit.

" I don't think anyone has a good handle on the exact prevalence of

use, " Kales said. " I'm sure it's underreported because doctors don't

generally ask about this and patients don't report it. "

The use of folk medicine is rooted in generations-old cultural

traditions. Ayurvedic medicine, for example, originated more than

2,000 years ago in India, where 80 percent of the population uses it.

" People think, well, my grandmother did it, so it's not a problem.

It's extremely hard to change cultures and beliefs, " said

Reyes with the Houston Health Department.

In Houston, where one in four residents is foreign-born, Health

Department officials routinely pay undercover visits to herbalist

stores and try to buy remedies known to contain lead. Often,

however, storekeepers are reluctant to admit they carry the

medicine, bringing them out only when they know the customer, Reyes

said.

In Houston and other places, health authorities can do little more

than ask stores to take such products off their shelves.

In a 2004 study that found high concentrations of lead in ayurvedic

medicine, Boston University researcher Saper bought 70

different ayurvedic remedies at 30 stores within a 20-mile radius of

Boston City Hall. One in five contained potentially harmful levels

of lead, mercury and arsenic.

After Saper's study was released, health inspectors in Houston,

Chicago, San Francisco and New York City conducted sweeps, and also

discovered dangerous ayurvedic remedies on store shelves.

Lead poisoning can cause lethargy, confusion, learning problems and

convulsions, and in severe cases can lead to irreversible brain

damage and death. In severe cases, children are often given oral

medication to reduce the lead in their bodies, or undergo chelation

therapy, which captures lead in the blood and allows it to be

removed through urination.

Patients sickened by home remedies often have more serious cases of

lead poisoning than those poisoned from other sources because the

medicines frequently contain extremely high concentrations of lead

and are deliberately swallowed, said Brown, chief of the

CDC's lead poisoning prevention branch.

In 2004, the CDC reported 12 cases of lead poisoning associated with

ayurvedic remedies in Texas, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York

and California. In one case, a 37-year-old woman, hospitalized with

abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, reported taking five different

traditional medications for rheumatoid arthritis.

Many state and local health departments have issued warnings about

lead in folk medicines, and sometimes use questionnaires to screen

youngsters in poor neighborhoods and immigrant communities for lead

poisoning from folk remedies. The Food and Drug Administration has

also issued alerts about certain medicines, including litargirio.

is doing her best to spread the word about the dangers.

" I told everyone in my family, all my friends, not to use this

anymore, not to give your children anything if you don't know what's

in it, " said , who purchased greta during a visit to her

hometown in Mexico.

gave each of the girls less than a teaspoon of greta - enough

to send their blood lead levels well over the safe limit. A year

later, their levels are still high, but inching closer to the

acceptable range. The amount in their systems was not high enough to

require any treatment.