Original Articles
Myriam Soussanieh, M. Amer Zam
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of toxic lead in Syrian herbal mixtures specialized for internal use. Sixty three of dry medicinal mixtures were collected both from herbalist and pharmacies in the Syrian market; the samples were subjects to an acid digestion method followed by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer analysis in order to specify the concentration for Lead. The result of study indicated that the content of Lead was above the USP 2010, the EC2009 and the WHO2007 permissible limits in 63.5%, 11.11% and 3.17% respectively of the tested samples. Also, the unlicensed samples were higher in lead levels than the licensed ones. This study concludes that there is a major safety concern for the population and it is due to the content of lead in herbal mixtures available in the market so it must be checked for its safe consumption.