Original Articles: 2015 Vol: 7 Issue: 9
Quantitative determination of some heavy metals in children herbal preparations available in Syrian market
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of toxic heavy metals in Syrian herbal preparations specialized for children. Ten dry children medicinal preparations were collected both from herbalist and pharmacies in the Syrian market, the samples were subjects to an acid digestion method followed by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer analysis in order to specify the concentration for seven toxic heavy metals: Lead, Nickel, Zinc, Copper, Chrome, Cobalt, and Cadmium. The result of study indicated that the content of Lead, Nickel, Cobalt and Cadmium were above the USP 2010 permissible limits in 90%, 80%,70% and 60% respectively in the tested samples, while no studied samples of Zinc, Copper, Chrome were over the permissible limits. This study concludes that there is a major safety concern for the children and it is due to the content of heavy metals in medicinal children preparations available in the market so it must be checked for its safe children consumption.