Health Canada is advising consumers not to use products containing Aristolochic Acid

Health Canada is advising consumers not to use products containing Aristolochic Acid, a naturally occurring toxin that can cause cancer, mutations in human cells, and end-stage kidney failure.

There have been numerous international reports of death or injury from kidney failure due to ingestion of products found to contain Aristolochic Acid.

Health Canada first issued a warning about Aristolochic Acid in November 1999. Other countries, including the United States, Australia, and member states of the European Union, have also taken regulatory action to address the risk of Aristolochic Acid to consumers.

Health Canada is currently determining whether these products are being sold on the Canadian market, and has issued an alert to the Canadian Border Services Agency to prevent the importation of these products into Canada. There have been no reports of adverse effects related to Aristolochic Acid in Canada.

Herbs being imported and exported may not be adequately labelled because the pinyin (phonetic) spelling of the herbs' Chinese trade names do not always capture critical aspects of pronunciation that properly distinguish these herbs in the Chinese language. The pinyin trade name may also lack the appropriate adjectives that correctly distinguish the different herbs.

Therefore, products labelled to contain the following could contain Aristolochia and its toxic Aristolochic Acid by mistake:

Aristolochia (birthwort, Virginia snakeroot), Asarum (wild ginger - unrelated to common ginger), and Bragantia (also known as Apama or Thottea) are plants known to contain Aristolochic Acid.

If you have products containing Aristolochic Acid, you are asked to contact the Health Products and Food Branch Inspectorate's regional operational centres at 1-800-267-9675.

The Chinese Medicines Board of the Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong has recently provided Health Canada with the following list of Chinese medicines that have been found to contain Aristolochic Acid. The Hong Kong Department of Health has instructed manufacturers of these products to recall the products from the market.

Table: Chinese medicines that have been found to contain Aristolochic Acid