As an epidemiologist I spearheaded the investigation on identifying an asian remedy, Koo Sar pills as a source of lead poisoning. At the time I was the Connecticut Health Department's Adult Blood Lead Surveillance Program's Adult Lead Registry & Case Management Coordinator. The program was funded by NIOSH's ABLES Program.
This particular investigation involved federal, state and local public health agencies, a community healthcare provider and clinical labs from 3 different states. This is an example of what makes public health so exciting a field. Below are citations to this investigation.
4/2/2004 Update - Nice to see that the results of this investigation are being followed by international and national public health policymakers. What's most satisfying is being able to contribute to the evaluation of dietary supplements, and that Koo Sar pills are being cited in peer-reviewed literature in the study of lead poisoning, and being recognized as a harmful substance in the professional literature. So you see, public health efforts, no matter how small they may seem, are worth it!!
Many thanks to ABLES Program's Bob Roscoe for supporting the publication of this investigation in the MMWR.
- Albemarle Corporation - Ibuprofen OTC Monograph - Lead Toxicity, p. 6. FDA
- About Lead Poisoning - Lead Prevention.Org
- Adult lead poisoning from an Asian remedy for menstrual cramps--Connecticut, 1997 Ebscohost.com
- Adult lead poisoning from an Asian remedy for menstrual cramps--Connecticut, 1997. PubMed
- ATSDR - 5. Potential for Human Exposure (p. 405)
- ATSDR - 6. POTENTIAL FOR HUMAN EXPOSURE p. 341
- Be Wary of Red Little Pills JournalWatch.Org
- Citations with the tag: CONNECTICUT. Dept. of Public Health Ebscohost.com
- Dietary Supplements, Herbs, Nutraceuticals: Interactions of Drugs, Dietary Agents & Herbs Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Updated 5/13/2002
- Encyclopedia of Clinical Toxicology - Lead Acetate. p. 599
- Folk Remedies or Cosmetics that Have Been Found To Contain Lead MCN Streamline The Migrant Health News Source; Volume 13, Issue 4 July / August 2007, p. 3
- Getting the Lead Out – Folk & Herbal Remedies 3/21/2012
- Imported Herbal Medicine Products Known to Contain Lead, Mercury, or Arsenic NYC.gov
- Lead Oxide: Human Side Effects NIH.gov
- Lead oxide/LEAD MONOXIDE Human Toxicity Excerpts National Toxicology Program CAS Registry Number: 1317-36-8 Toxicity Effects
- Lead Poisoning Encyclopedia.com
- Lead Poisoning FAQs.org
- Lead Poisoning Khan,A.N., Munir, U. E-medicine.com
- Lead Poisoning Medscape.com
- Lead Poisoning Associated with Ayurvedic Medications --- Five States, 2000--2003 MMWR 7/9/2004
- Lead poisoning in pregnancy: a case study with implications for midwives. Sciencedirect.com Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health Volume 48, Issue 1, January-February 2003, Pages 30-38
- Managing Menstrual Cycle Problems Healthcoachmd.com
- Medline
- Modular Pharmacy Course Listserv Wayne State University
- Occupational-Environmental-Medicine Listserv from Duke University
- Paul A Tait, Amish Vora, Simon James, D James Fitzgerald and Beverly A Pester (June 7, 2002). Notable Cases: Severe congenital lead poisoning in a preterm infant due to a herbal remedy. eMJA - Medical Journal of Australia. #21
- Tait et al in PDF format
- Personal MD
- Proposed Framework for Evaluating the Safety of Dietary Supplements -- For Comment (2002)
Food and Nutrition Board (FNB), Institute of Medicine (IOM), Board on Life Sciences (BLS) - National Academies Press
- Protecting Your Baby From Lead Exposure and Lead Poisoning babybobbi.com
- Pub Med Abstract
- References for: Adulteration of Dietary Supplements [Am J Health-Syst Pharm 60(15):1576-1580, 2003. © 2003 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Medscape #30
- Remediating the Remedy:Dangers of Lead in Traditional Medicine Leahy Michelle presentation
- Sources of Lead Other than Lead-Based Paint - Iowa Department of Health
- http://orion.oac.uci.edu/~epinet/The_Lead_Page/lead_research.html - The Lead Page's Lead Research UCI.Edu No longer online
- Traditional Remedies and Other Products Reported to Contain Lead Los Angeles County Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Programe
- U.S. Food & Drug Administration MedWatch (1997-May 1, 2008) - NIH.gov
- What's the Harm
- WHO Pharmaceuticals Newsletter 1999, Number 05 and 06
PUBLISHED ON THE WEB: July 8, 2000; February 19, 2001
Updated: 12/21/2017 R186
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