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Daihuang ©Erich Stöger

L. Li and a team of scientists from Hong Kong and Germany have published a study of 10 Chinese herbal medicines, in which they compared (alleged) existing and/or non-existent embryotoxicity according to tests on animals, with results of new in vitro tests they carried out (1). The following herbal medicines with the designated characteristics were tested:

Tripterygium wilfordii (lei gong teng), a herbal medicine that is considered obsolete due to its 
   considerable toxicity
Hirudo (shui zhi), the leech, traditionally contraindicated during pregnancy
Trichosanthis Radix (tian hua fen), traditionally contraindicated during pregnancy
Coptidis Rhizoma (huang lian), according to modern research contraindicated during pregnancy (2)
Astragali Radix (huang qi) – no known risk during pregnancy
Paeoniae Radix alba (bai shao) – no known risk during pregnancy
Scutellariae Radix (huang qin) – no known risk during pregnancy
Notoginseng Radix (san qi) – traditionally to be used with caution during pregnancy
Carthami Flos (hong hua), according to modern research contraindicated during pregnancy(2) 
Salviae miltiorrhizae Radix (dan shen), traditionally contraindicated during pregnancy due to risk of miscarriage

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