KPC Products, Inc.
(U.S. Main Office)
16 Goddard
Irvine, CA 92618

Herbs have been used medicinally in China for thousands of years. Hundreds of years ago, herbs grew in nature organically, without any risk of contamination by pesticides or other pollutants. With the industrialization of agriculture and expansion of the chemical industry, the situation has changed. Industrial waste and pesticides can add dangerous chemicals to herbs. Even indirect waste – such as acid rain and contaminated groundwater – can dangerously alter herbs. Along with industry's growth, the danger of heavy metals in herbs has become an acute concern.

Heavy metals refer to metallic chemical elements that have a high density and are highly toxic. KP takes precautions to audit its suppliers' products to ward against heavy metals. Once herbs reach KP, they are analyzed as raw herbs and again post-processing in the form of granules. KP uses inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to detect for the five heavy metals that pose the most serious risk toward human health: lead, copper, cadmium, arsenic and mercury.

KP utilizes ICP spectrometry         
analysis to detect for heavy metal content in herbs,                                                   
providing a much more accurate measurement than
techniques outlined in Chinese Pharmacopeia.         

In excessive quantities each of these heavy metals endangers health in different ways.

Lead contains toxins destructive to the nerve system. It can also cause brain and blood disorders.
Copper is essential to human health in small quantities. However, when present in high concentrations, copper in the body can lead to nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, epilepsy and even death.
Cadmium has a very long half-life (over thirty years) and accumulates within bodily organs over time. It has no known effective treatment to expel it from a person's system, making prevention absolutely critical. Ingesting it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, pain and shock.
Arsenic (III) combines with other elements to form inorganic arsenic compounds. These compounds are known to be human carcinogens. Exposure to arsenic also damages skin tissue, causing skin lesions and damaging the mucous membrane and endothelium.
Mercury exposure can result in permanent nervous system, brain damage and kidney damage. Fetuses exposed to mercury may manifest problems as children.

KP analyzes for heavy metal content in herbs with ICP, a technique much more accurate than those specified in the Chinese Pharmacopeia. KP upholds standards for heavy metals under which KP employees would proudly consume. KP never departs from its strict standards for safety and is always strengthening its standards in favor of safety.

Because of KP's enforcement of strict standards for safety, KP incurs greater costs. But these costs represent better training of employees, more advanced technology and a firmer guarantee on the safety of our products.