This year there have been many disappointments in the Traditional industry where standards were not adhered too causing distress not just amongst consumers but also high quality TCM manufacturers and here at Furley we too are concerned by action of other companies which have failed basic heavy metal compliance.

Sad to say majority of these cases steam out from China, where levels of heavy metals exceed what is permitted and at times presence of these metals are a no go.

Why are we concerned?

The traditional market is relatively in its infancy stage no doubt Asians are more familiar with herbal concoctions and such which has treated illness for centuries. Modern techniques and analysis has allowed us to standardise and check for fundamental indicators of consumable safety such as heavy meals, trace toxins and bio active concentrations. We are talking about the modernisation of traditional medicine.

These dark horses of the industry with their cow boy tactics are tarnishing the reputation of our industry which we are ever working so hard in educating and investing in the correct testing protocols as well as infrastructure. The research is difficult and tedious to develop the safe testing methods for traditional medicines and is no easy feat in itself for a single product.

Not all manufacturers are the same and reputable brands with quality testing systems in place such as Furley Bioextracts adhere to international testing methods and heavy metal compliance up to the extent of bio activity limits.

I know it is a matter of time till some other TCM products are caught for high levels of aflatoxin.

Reference Articles (Shame on you!)

UK busts more contaminated Chinese herbal medicines; ‘We are fed up’ says industry