An analysis of Vietnamese traditional herbal medicines for prescription and non-prescription drugs, herbicides and pesticides

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine whether pharmaceutical adulterants and/or pesticides/herbicides were present in Vietnamese traditional herbal medicines. Toxicological analyses were conducted on nine preparations using gas-chromatography/electron-capture-detector (GC/ECD), liquid-chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass-spectrometer (LC-QTOF MS), liquid-chromatography/diode array detector (LC/UV) and gas-chromatography/nitrogen-phosphorous-detector/mass-spectrometer (GC-NPD/MS). Qualitative toxicological analysis revealed that none of the samples contained a target contaminant compound (i.e. synthetic pharmaceuticals, herbicides or pesticides). Specifically there was no evidence of common prescription or non-prescription pharmaceutical drugs, herbicides/defoliants such as Agent Orange, 2,4 dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), or pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). Although the sample size was small, this study has demonstrated that adulteration/augmentation is not a universal practice in prepared traditional herbal materials and that herbicide/defoliant residues may not be detected in a large number of herbal ingredients despite previous heavy environmental contamination.

Keywords:

• Traditional herbal medicine
• adulteration
• contamination
• augmentation
• Agent Orange