Health Alert: Vietnamese Hemorrhoid Ointment Found With 4% Lead; Sacramento Woman Died of Severe Lead Poisoning
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento is a city in Sacramento County, California. The City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, health department issued a health alert on October 18: a Sacramento resident died of severe lead poisoning after using a hemorrhoid ointment from Vietnam known as Cao Bôi Trĩ Cây Thầu Dầu. Testing found the ointment contained lead at four percent (39,000 ppm). Lead is highly toxic to people of all ages and health conditions, and even minimal exposure carries health risks.
According to the alert, the woman bought the ointment through Facebook and a relative in Vietnam shipped it to her in the United States. Whether the ointment can be purchased directly in the U.S. remains unclear, and there have been no reports of the product being used in Connecticut. An earlier California Department of Public Health investigation into the death likewise measured the product's lead content at about four percent.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notes that short-term lead exposure can cause headache, abdominal pain, vomiting and anemia, while longer-term exposure can lead to irritability, lethargy, fatigue, muscle aches, constipation, difficulty concentrating, tremor and weight loss. Health officials urge consumers to be wary of imported medicines and supplements of unknown origin — especially those sent from overseas through social media or relatives outside regulated channels — and say anyone who has used the ointment should stop immediately and seek a blood lead test. (GSM, based on the City of Bridgeport health alert)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：萨克拉门托天际线（资料图，非事件现场）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 4.0。Photo: Sacramento skyline (file photo, not the incident scene). Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
