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William H. Crosby, MD

JAMA. 1977;238(14):1544.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Yet another case of accidental lead poisoning from health food comes to our attention elsewhere in this issue (p 1539). A California housewife poisoned by herbal health pills imported from Hong Kong recalls the case of the California resident poisoned by a powdered-bone health food imported from England (JAMA 237:2627, 1977). In both women, incapacitating hematologic, neurologic, and emotional disabilities developed. Do these two women represent isolated, insignificant cases, or do they represent the tip of an iceberg?

The Food and Drug Administration has been quoted (National Observer, June 27, 1977, p 15) that while such cases are regrettable, they are "not representative of a major national problem of lead poisoning." The agency cannot run full cry after every mischief in the nation. Some problems are more important than others, and the FDA does suffer perennially from "money constraints." But they do keep their channels open to physicians, and we . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation La Jolla, California

Footnotes
Address editorial communications to the Editor, 535 N Dearborn St, Chicago 60610

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