수입산 식물성 생약제 원료의 중금속 함량 및 안전성 평가

Abstract

Interest and demand for herbal medicines with a wide range or uses due to various pharmacological actions are increasing. However, as domestic production decreases due to the aging of rural areas, it is dependent on imports, and imported herbal medicines may cause heavy metal contamination problems depending on the medicinal part and the place of production. As the need to evaluate the safety of heavy metals in such illegally distributed herbal medicines is emphasized, this study evaluated the heavy metal content and safety of imported herbal herbal medicines. Lead, cadmium, and arsenic were analyzed in order to conduct heavy metal analysis on 935 cases of 29 herbal medicines imported and distributed in Busan for three years from 2019. The microwave digestion method was used to determine the concentrations of lead, cadmium, and arsenic in samples by using ICP-MS (NexlON 350, Perkin Elmer, USA). In addition, the mercury content was detected by using a mercury analyzer (IT/DMA-80, Milestone, USA). Lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury were detected below the standard values, and the content of lead and cadmium was higher in the above-ground part than in the underground part, but in the case of arsenic, the underground part was higher than the above-ground part. When heavy metal content was compared by country of origin, lead and cadmium were detected the highest in Vietnam, and arsenic was highest in Russia. In the case of mercury, there were no significant differences by country. Higher levels of lead, cadmium and arsenic were detected in China and Vietnam, which are among the top importing countries of herbal medicines, compared to other countries. When heavy metal content was compared by year, no heavy metal exceeded the standard, but the number of cases with lead content of 4 mg/kg or more occurred once every year for 3 years, and the number of cases higher than the average cadmium limit of 0.3 mg/kg was in 2019 33 Case, 26 cases in 2020, 22 cases in 2021. As a result of analyzing the heavy metal content and evaluating the risk of imported botanical herbal medicine raw materials, there were no samples exceeding the standard for heavy metal content, and almost all samples were analyzed to be safe. However, Glycyrrhizae Radix, Angelicae Gigantis Radix, Cinnamomi Cortex, and Ulmi Cortex, where relatively high levels of heavy metals were detected in lead, cadmium, and arsenic, showed higher detection values than other samples, and in Vietnam and China, which are high-income countries, higher levels than the overall average by country. Therefore, continuous monitoring of herbal medicine products, particularly concerning heavy metals, should be adopted to ensure human safety and security.