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FURTHER HEAVY METALS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED IN FOOD SUPPLEMENTS

10/12/2001
 
The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) has submitted to the court a notice of suspicion of criminal activities on the company Emil Havelka-Astrál. The laboratory analyses confirmed the occurrence of high quantities of further heavy metals in products imported and distributed by this company. The CAFIA analyses identified - in addition to the high contents of lead - also the presence of mercury and cadmium in quantities exceeding the MRL. The permissible MRL for both for mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) are 5 mg/kg .
  • ASTRUM MA MADHULENE (3.76 mg Cd/kg; 2.950 mg Hg/kg)
  • ASTRUM FE FEMIKALP (6.69 mg Cd/kg; 12 mg Hg/kg)
  • ASTRUM TRIGULIV-15 (8.5 mg Hg/kg)
  • ASTRUM AM AMLANTAK (0.89 mg Cd/kg; 205 mg Hg/kg)
  • ASTRUM ME MEDHELEEN (1.29 mg Hg/kg)
  • ASTRUM LA LAXOLENE (1.84 mg Hg/kg)

All the above products are of Indian origin and they were manufactured by a company Triguna Ayurvedic Research Laboratory, Okhla, New Delhi.

As CAFIA has already informed, the products were sold in a network of shops known as "Astrological Pharmacy", and they were offered via Internet, sold COD and distributed also in the course of lectures given by Mr. Havelka.

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority immediately imposed a ban on selling the above products and instructed the distributor to withdraw the products from circulation. Nonetheless, the inspection of products offered by the mentioned company has not been completed yet.

Since 1999 the company E.Havelka - Astrál has imported from India almost 2,500 pieces only of the product Astrum Ma Madhulene, in which the detected contents of lead were exceeding the permissible MRL 5-thousand times and the contents of mercury 6-thousand times. The company has documented withdrawal of 966 pieces of the product to date.

The information on the above findings was sent to the Rapid-Alert-System through which the inspection authorities in the EU member countries will be notified.

CAFIA immediately communicated the above identifications to the Ministry of Health, State Veterinary Service, Customs Office, Chamber of Pharmacies and the Czech Association of Pharmaceutical Companies. The mentioned products have not been so far detected anywhere else in circulation.

CAFIA points out once again that despite an immediate intervention, it is not excluded that the mentioned products may be spread among consumers, as their expiration terms are between 2 and 3 years and they might have been bought some time ago.

CAFIA strongly advises the consumers against taking the products.


Author: RNDr. Daniela Kolejková - 55344 CSc. - Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority