靈芝商業產品中有毒金屬與農殘含量的調查   全文下載

A Survey of Heavy Metal and Organochlorine Pesticide Contaminations in Commercial Lingzhi Products

中成藥與草藥成分配製的營養添加劑的安全性問題是近年來人們關注的焦點。在各類專業學術報告或一般報章雜誌中，都有大量的報導。本文彙集了我們在最近一次調研工作中有關靈芝商業產品的安全與品質的分析報告。結果顯示在36 種在中國或香港地區市面流通的靈芝產品中，約有1/3 樣品中的砷含量，與一半以上樣品中的鎘含量超過中國或美國的限量標準。相對於有毒金屬，農殘遺留的問題較小，在抽查的樣品中，部分含有遺留農殘，但含量都少於限量。以靈芝中生物活性物質多醣成分的含量作為品質指標，樣品與樣品間的差異極大，同時靈芝藥材的種類與活性成分也都未反映在產品的標籤說明上。這個初步的調研工作充分顯示中草藥產品的安全性與品質標準問題，必須進一步加強。目前廣為宣揚的“規範農業生產（GaP）”與“規範製藥生產（GMP）”指南中的系統質控手段，必須積極推動，以控制中草藥產品由農業生產源頭一直到下游工業製造中各個生產環節，用以保證最終產品的安全與品質。

One of the major problems in the use Chinese herbal medicinal (CM) products is product safety. Alarm has been heightened internationally in recent years on the contamination of CM products by heavy metals or toxic contaminants such as pesticide residues. In this study, the levels of several representative toxic elements including lead (Pb), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd), and the contents of several common organochlorine pesticides in Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum) samples purchased commercially in China and Southeast Asia were determined. Of the 36 samples analyzed, the As in about one third, and Cd in more than one half of the samples were found to contain metal concentrations exceeding their respective allowable limits in China and the U.S. Pesticides are less of a problem. Among 7 of the 36 samples randomly selected, none of them was contaminated with pesticides exceeding the allowable limit. The metal results suggest that the quality and safety of CM products have to be critically assessed before the products can be put in clinical trials or placed on the market. Both GAP and GMP guidelines are strongly recommended to ensure the production of quality and contamination-free CM products.