IARC MONOGRAPHS ON THE EVALUATION OF CARCINOGENIC ...

Nishida & Fukami, 1989a,b; Nishida et al., 1993; Sachdev-Gupta et al., 1993; Fordyce,
2000; Klitzke & Brown, 2000; Sime et al., 2000; Wu et al., 2000).
Aristolochic acids I and II have been determined in several samples of medicinal
plants and slimming products using HPLC. The major component was aristolochic acid I
in Aristolochia fangchi and the level ranged from 437 to 668 ppm (mg/kg). Aristolochic
acid II was the major component in Aristolochia contorta, at levels ranging from less
than 1 to 115 ppm (mg/kg). Twelve out of 16 samples of slimming pills and powders contained
aristolochic acids I and/or II. The major component in most slimming products
was aristolochic acid II and the level ranged from less than 1 to 148 ppm (Lee et al.,
2001).
The amounts of aristolochic acids I and II in four groups of medicinal plants from
the family Aristolochiaceae and some related plants were determined by HPLC.
Aristolochic acids I and II were detected in all the plants from the genus Aristolochia
(Aristolochiaceae) and at trace levels in some from the genus Asarum (Aristolochiaceae)
(Hashimoto et al., 1999). The levels of these compounds in several medicinal plants are
presented in Table 2.
1.6.8 Regulations
SOME TRADITIONAL HERBAL MEDICINES 83
Table 2. Aristolochic acid content in individual samples
of medicinal plants of the Aristolochiaceae family a
Botanical name AA-I (mg/kg) AA-II (mg/kg)
Aristolochia debilis 1010 180
1080 120
790 80
Aristolochia manshuriensis 3010 210
1690 140
8820 1000
Aristolochia fangchi 2220 220
1430 60
1030 40
a From Hashimoto et al. (1999)
AA-I, aristolochic acid I
AA-II, aristolochic acid II
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) (2001a) of Australia has issued a Fact
Sheet stating that all species of Aristolochia are prohibited for supply, sale or use in therapeutic
goods in Australia. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (2001b) also issued a
Practitioner Alert to communicate its concern about traditional Chinese medicine herbal
products that are known to contain, or suspected to contain, Aristolochia species, which