Warning out against suspect Vitamin C from the Mainland

Find out the reasons why.

The 41-year-old victim said the product she took as Wei C Yin Qiaopian. Wei C is Chinese for vitamin C. The government identified the maker as Tong'an Pharmaceutical in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

The mainland's Food and Drug Administration said the medicine, which is produced by many pharmaceutical companies as a popular treatment for colds, should contain 10 herbal ingredients and three chemicals: Vitamin C, paracetamol and chlorpheniramine maleate.

Hong Kong's Department of Health, however, said it detected none of the three chemicals in the product. It also said it found phenacetin and aminophenazone, which are chemicals that cause severe side effects and are banned in Hong Kong.

Phenacetin and aminophenazone, however, are widely used to ease pain and fever, like aspirin. Phenacetin is banned on the mainland and aminophenazone is rarely used in human medicines.

The Food and Drug Administration, however, said no phenacetin and aminophenazone was found in medicine with the same batch number as that identified by Hong Kong health authorities. The simple test was conducted by medical authorities in Shenzhen.