Your Mom and Dad always told you that too much Heavy Metal was bad for you.
Now the PharmTech Talk blog is raising the issue too. Dangerous Heavy Metal contamination of raw materials -- and worse final products like dietary supplements, food and drugs -- have become increasingly common. This is much to the consternation of regulators, producers and consumers.
In partial response, several groups responsible for setting standards for heavy metal testing are working on new guidelines. The public comments on USP's new elemental impurities chapters, which update testing methods and limits for lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury - the "big four" - were due April 15th.
And ICH's harmonization work on this issue is getting started this month in Estonia. The FDA's Joshua Sharfstein also recently testified before a Senate Judiciary committee -- looking into the regulation of food and dietary supplement safety -- and focused many of his comments on heavy metal levels.
As Angie Drakulich stated in her blog post, "Let's hope that between USP, ICH and Congress some progress can be made to keep consumer products free of dangerous levels of heavy metals in the long term."
A PLUG FOR HEAVY METALS - Pharmaceutical Technology is hosting a free webinar on heavy metals on Monday June 14th and Thursday June 17th 2010. You can tune in here.
Posted by Bruce Lehr June 5th 2010.
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