Suherdjoko and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Semarang | Thu, 12/17/2009 11:40 AM
The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) says it has often found imported traditional medicines harmful to people’s health and containing hazardous substances.
And not all local and popular traditional herbal medicines on the market were safe to consume, it says.
“For instance, the Chinese traditional medicine called Ankung, to treat strokes, contains hazardous substances. Lab tests show that the medicine contains heavy metals, copper and lead. They are hazardous to people’s health,” BPOM head Husniah Rubiana Thamrin said in Semarang, Central Java, on Wednesday.
She said that according to the drug importers, the description on the package advises users not to take the medicine twice within a 24 hour period.
“There is apparently a difference in perspectives. The Chinese believe life is influenced by five elements; earth, water, fire, wood and iron. When a person’s body is deficient in iron, they are advised to add iron to the body, while we prioritize safety,” Husniah said.
The BPOM has categorizes traditional medicines in Indonesia into three groups: First, herbal tonic drinks (jamu) that consumed by Indonesians for generations and have proven benefits, such as asam kunyit, Lancar ASI, Galian Putri, Awet Ayu and Kuat Lelaki. Second, standard traditional medicines, and third, fitofarmaka or traditional herbal drugs.
“However, some traditional medicines have not necessarily passed as fitofarmaka but remain popular,” Husniah said.
Central Java Health Office head Hartanto said the province was home to 263 species of herbal plants that were used to supply 12 major jamu industries and around 200 small-scale traditional medicine producers in a number of regencies. These plants are key to the survival of the traditional medicine industries in Indonesia.
The Yogyakarta Customs and Excise Office on Wednesday destroyed thousands of illegally imported goods that were confiscated before being smuggled into the province by mail, seaports and airports.
The contraband items, not accompanied by documents, were seized between March 2007 and December this year.
A large part of the illegal goods destroyed were sex toys and accessories, pornographic video discs and aphrodisiacs, including as 3,460 packets of Huang Di She Dan aphrodisiac from China, 1,237 compact discs, 1,200 audio visual optics and 1,000 packets of Santhura brand hair cream.
Other items included air soft guns, plastic ammunition, pistols and other accessories. ”The contraband items were smuggled in from China, the United States and Thailand,” said Yogyakarta Customs and Excise Office chief Sucipto.
