Mercury Compounds in Drugs and Food

摘要

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required to: (1) compile a list of drugs and foods that contain intentionally introduced mercury compounds, and (2) provide a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the mercury compounds in this list. The agency asked all manufacturers of any food, including dietary supplements, and human and veterinary drug products (prescription or over-the-counter (OTC)) containing any intentionally introduced mercury compounds, whether used as an active or inactive ingredient, to provide information about the products to the agency. The agency received 41 responses to the request-for-data notices; 38 from manufacturers of products, 1 from an association of homeopathic pharmacists, and 2 from consumers. Of the 38 responses from manufacturers, 15 were from manufacturers of homeopathic drug products, and 23 were from manufacturers of drug and/or biologic products (13 drug manufacturers, 8 biologic manufacturers, and 2 manufacturers of both types of products). Five of the drug manufacturers informed the agency that they had no products containing any mercury compounds. One drug manufacturer was an animal health corporation providing information on a veterinary drug product, and two manufacturers of homeopathic products included information on five veterinary drug products as well as human drug products. The product information submitted with the comments is summarized in separate sections based on the types of products: Human drug products (nonhomeopathic and homeopathic), veterinary drug products (nonhomeopathic and homeopathic), biological products, food and dietary supplement products, and other products (where the type of product could not be determined from the information that was submitted).