SINGAPORE,Dec. 18 -- The Health Sciences Authority ( HSA) in Singapore on Thursday issued an alert, warning the public not to consume batch T292 of two Chinese medicines -- Zhenzhu Shedan Chuanbeimo and Huatan Zhike Chongcao Zhenzhu Chuanbeimo after they were found to contain excessive levels of arsenic.

HSA also asked retailers to remove the stocks from the shelves. Tientsin Da Chong Trading, the local distributor of the products, is currently conducting a consumer recall of the affected batch and working with HSA to investigate this matter.

The higher than permissible levels of arsenic in these products were detected during HSA's routine product quality surveillance of locally marketed health products, HSA said, adding that no adverse reaction reports associated with the use of these two products have been received so far.

Arsenic is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in the environment and is present in the natural ingredients used to manufacture Chinese Proprietary Medicines, HSA explained. A minute amount of 5 parts per million (ppm) of arsenic is permitted in Chinese Proprietary Medicines. However, laboratory tests detected arsenic levels of 8.16 ppm and 8.48 ppm in Batch number T292 of both products, respectively.

Exposure to excessive amounts of arsenic can potentially cause symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, dark colored urine, dehydration, heart related problems, dizziness, confusion, increased heart rate and low blood pressure, HSA said.