The food and medicine scare involving magnesium carbonate intended for industrial use continued to snowball yesterday as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that two pharmaceutical companies which passed the government’s new manufacturing standards allegedly used the substance in the manufacture of stomach medicine.
FDA Deputy Director-General Wu Hsiu-ying (吳秀英) said that following the discovery that two pharmaceutical firms had manufactured stomach powder products with magnesium carbonate meant for industrial use purchased from Taichung-based Yi Hsing Trading Co (誼興貿易), the administration had begun looking into the 103 firms that passed the international PIC/S GMP standards (Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention and Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme).
“When asked whether their products contained magnesium carbonate or if they had acquired the chemical from Yi Hsing’s upstream supplier, Greater Tainan’s Yuncheng Chemical Industrial Co (允成化工), New Taipei City’s Johnson Chemical Pharmaceutical Works Co (強生化學製藥) and Taichung’s Weidar Chemical and Pharmaceutical Co (衛達化學製藥) said they had purchased the substance from Yuncheng,” Wu told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
“Other firms that have used magnesium carbonate in their products imported the chemical legally from Germany or Japan,” Wu said.
Wu said Johnson allegedly began using magnesium carbonate intended for industrial use in its “Saporo A Granule” (爽保樂安腸胃藥) in 2006, while Weidar was believed to have started using the substance in its “Lavezol Capsules” (樂胃如膠囊) in 2008.
The FDA has yet to obtain figures for the amount of the two potentially tainted products that are still in circulation, but it has ordered a preventive recall of the two products, Wu added.
On Wednesday, reports emerged that Jen Chang Sheng Chemical and Pharmaceutical Co (正長生化學製藥) and Mu Tsu Pharmaceutical Chemical Co (木村製藥) had acquired the chemical from Yi Hsing to use in the manufacture of stomach medicine.
Taichung’s health bureau also found on the same day that Jen Sheng Pharmaceutical Co (人生製藥) had allegedly procured 425kg of non-edible calcium carbonate from Yi Hsing between 2008 and 2011.
Jen Sheng allegedly used the substance in 4,800 boxes of “Huacorsun” (化咳散, cough medicine) for Top International Biotect Ltd (牛耳生技) and 3,400 bottles of “Weidalon Powder” (胃達樂散) for Cheng Shing Tai Biopharmaceutical Co (鄭杏泰生物科技).
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