Safi is an Unani medicine which claims to be a blood-purifier. It is produced by Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf

Waqf

A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...

) in Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, as well as by Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories

Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories

Hamdard Laboratories, India is an Unani and Ayurvedic pharmaceutical company in India & Pakistan. It is the world's largest manufacturer of Unani medicines. It was established in 1906 by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed in Delhi, and became a waqf in 1948. Some of its most famous products include Safi,...

 in Ghaziabad, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. According to the package, it "corrects the digestive system, relieves constipation

Constipation

Constipation refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. Constipation is a common cause of painful defecation...

, prevents and cures boils, pimples, and skin eruptions."

In August 2005 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is the UK government agency which is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe....

 of the United Kingdom Department of Health

Department of Health (United Kingdom)

The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...

 reported that samples of Safi contained high levels of arsenic

Arsenic

Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...

. The next month Health Canada

Health Canada

Health Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for national public health.The current Minister of Health is Leona Aglukkaq, a Conservative Member of Parliament appointed to the position by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.-Branches, regions and agencies:Health Canada...

issued a warning that Safi was "found to contain arsenic levels in excess of 40 times the maximum allowable concentration for drugs"

However,directions for use in the package insert categorically state that Safi is supposed to be taken in diluted form,which drastically reduces the arsenic content in terms of acceptable ppm (parts per million). Among the main ingredients are neem and rhubarb.

External links

• Metal content found in Ayurvedic drugs IBN Live
• Is Safi really helpful? Yahoo Questions
• Foreign Product Alert: Health Canada CBC News Marketplace