China Tainted Yinqiao Vitamin C Tablets Taken Off Shelves

By Niam Seet Wei BEIJING, March 29 (Bernama) -- Guangxi Yingkang Pharmaceutical Co, a leading Chinese pharmaceutical maker, has taken the tainted Yinqiao (wild honeysuckle flowers) Vitamin C tablets off the shelves. The company, which is also a subsidiary of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited, has stopped selling the tablets which have been sealed for investigation, Southern Metropolis Daily cited the company's person-in-charge, Liang, as saying. The contaminated tablets were reported to contain arsenic and mercury as they were sprayed with some industrial sulfur for longer preservation before being sold, the local daily reported Thursday. Besides, the tablets were actually made by the uncleaned leaves of the plant instead of the real wild honeysuckle flowers, it said. -- BERNAMA