Mayway's Response to article "Dietary Supplement Sold in City Found to Have High Levels of Lead and Mercury" (Time Warner Cable News-NY1 News, March 16, 2016)

It's Not Ours!

March 22, 2016

We have received emails in reference to the news brief regarding Emperor’s Teapills (Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan) distributed in the New York area containing extremely high concentrations of Lead and Mercury. (Click to view the original article.) The product in question is not genuine Min Shan® Brand Emperor’s Teapills (Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan) nor is it distributed by Mayway.

The news brief referred to Emperor’s Teapills made by “Lanzhou Traditional Herbs”. Unfortunately it didn't specify the actual brand or importer. We have researched it, and can confirm that the product depicted is “Traditional Formulas” Brand. According to the label, it is exclusively imported by Kingsway Trading Inc., a company based in Brooklyn, New York. There is no manufacturer listed on the images that we have seen. Mayway is not affiliated with this product, brand, or importer.

What we distribute
Each batch of our Min Shan® Brand Emperor’s Teapill (Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan) is tested for Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, and Cadmium according to stringent, internationally accepted standards. The only manufacturer of Min Shan® Brand is the Lanzhou Foci Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Lanzhou Foci is an internationally certified GMP factory, and all Min Shan® products are imported exclusively by Mayway and are tested at the factory for heavy metals. Random testing is conducted at 3rd party laboratories in the U.S. for additional quality assurance. A Certificate of Analysis for any batch is available upon request. If you are unsure of the authenticity of a product, please give us a call at 1-800-2-MAYWAY (1-800-262-9929).

Additionally, we would like to take this opportunity to clarify some misconceptions surrounding “Lanzhou Pills”.
Why are they called “Lanzhou pills”? Lanzhou is the provincial capital of Gansu province in China. “Lanzhou pills” originally referred to products made by the Lanzhou Foci Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. under the Min Shan® Brand label. With Lanzhou Foci's long history (it’s been around since 1929) and award winning products, many companies have attempted to capitalize on the Lanzhou Foci name by using similar factory names, packaging, and referring to their products as “Lanzhou pills”. Min Shan® is the only brand Lanzhou Foci makes for export in this type/style of packaging. Mayway has been the sole U.S. importer and distributor of this brand since the early 1980's.

Min Shan® Teapills from Lanzhou Foci have long been at the heart of the vast array of prepared Chinese herbal medicines. These extraordinary herbal remedies can be found in clinics and herbal shops around the world. Classically, pills in China were handmade using honey as a binding agent, which is why they are sometimes referred to as “honey pills”. Lanzhou Foci pioneered modern manufacturing methods to create pills which were uniform in size, concentrated, stable, and clean, without extra sugars or useless binding agents. The award-winning, internationally GMP certified Lanzhou Foci Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is widely considered to be the preeminent manufacturer of traditional teapills in the world. Min Shan® Teapills provides some of the finest and most important remedies in Chinese herbal medicine available today.

Counterfeit Products Notice
There are many copies of Min Shan®Brand pills. Some have similar names. Others are look-a-likes. Real Min Shan® Brand Teapills, however, come from an internationally certified GMP factory and are 3rd-party laboratory tested for heavy metals. They are also made with unsulfured herbs using the same slow cooking methods as Plum Flower® Brand teapills.

You'll find our Mayway code number and the Mayway distributor information on the side panel. Names such as “Minshan Factory” and other combinations of the Lanzhou Foci name and brand can be seen on copies. Please check our website www.mayway.com for additional label information. Be wary of similar looking patent formulas not purchased from Mayway or our distributors. If you are unsure of the authenticity of a product, please give us a call at 1-800-2-MAYWAY (1-800-262-9929) or 510-208-3113 (Monday through Friday, 8am-5:30pm Pacific Standard Time).