A HERBAL tea shop in Longgang District was raided by authorities after its medicinal powder sickened five children, the Daily Sunshine reported yesterday.

    The five children were diagnosed with lead poisoning at Longgang District People’s Hospital last month and all of them had taken a medicine made by the owner of the Longgang herbal tea shop.

    Officers with the city’s market supervision bureau and the public security bureau raided the herbal tea shop after receiving a report from the hospital Friday.

    The shop owner, surnamed Zou, was detained by police.

    According to the law enforcement officers, the shop didn’t have a drug manufacturing license or a license to practice medicine, but Zou made medicinal powder by mixing several herbs and sold it to patients with respiratory diseases.

    The powder contained an excessive amount of lead that was 10,000 times higher than the legal limit, which could severely endanger a human’s health, according to the Shenzhen Institute for Medicine Control.

    Chen Pinxing, an officer with the bureau’s drug inspection department, said the shop owner is suspected of selling fake drugs in accordance with the country’s drug administration law.

    Guan Linjing, a doctor with Longgang District People’s Hospital, said that the five children were aged between 8 and 13, and all had shown symptoms of vomiting, high fever and dermatitis.

    One of the children has been transferred to a Guangzhou hospital and another two were transferred to Shenzhen No. 3 People’s Hospital. The other two are recovering at Guan’s hospital. (Zhang Yang)