title: Heavy metals in some Chinese herbal plants.
abstract: The concentrations of nine heavy metals, cadmium, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, lead, zinc, and mercury in 42 Chinese herbal medicinal plants were determined. Generally, all the samples studied had, relative to the other trace metals, higher concentrations of iron, manganese, and zinc. The concentration range of the metals determined was comparable to that in many of the East Asian vegetables and fruits. A few samples were found to contain relatively higher concentrations of the toxic metals such as cadmium, lead, and mercury. This was probably caused by contamination during air-drying and preservation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wee
mesh_terms: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D008670:Metals