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180 Nuclear Science and Technology | Progress Report

limits and evaluation of the potentially toxic Investigation on elemental composition
elements content in medicinal plants. For of pharmaceutical products
such, the techniques of Neutron Activation
Analysis, Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, Medicinal plants, phototherapies and dietary
Gamma Spectrometry and X-ray Diffraction supplements (multivitamins and proteins) are
have been used. among the most rapidly growing pharmaceu-
ticals not only in developing countries, but also
In the study of the clays’ medicinal use, it is in industrialized countries. These products are
important to characterize the raw material and generally commercialized without medical
water used in its maturation process (Fig. 26). Al- prescription and they may not always pres-
though the peloid mechanisms of action are still ent the reliable composition on their labels.
not well understood, some studies indicate that Consequently, it becomes of great importance
these may be related to the topical absorption of to evaluate the risks arising from the use of
both inorganic and organic components present these products by means of the determina-
in the water and clay mature mixture. In this tion of toxic elements as well as the essential
study, the Peruíbe Black Mud (PBM) was used to ones present in excessive doses. At the current
treat cutaneous conditions and osteoarthritis. It stage in which the Ministry of Health and the
was verified that the PBM is mainly composed National Sanitary Surveillance Agency (ANVI-
of quartz and presents lower concentrations SA) are investing greater efforts to control all
of Ca, Mg and Mn and higher concentrations products related to human consumption, it is
of SO , that the maturation process makes the necessary the development and application
3
mud enriched in Cl and Mg, that the PBM is also of reliable methodologies to analyze pharma-
enriched in the elements As, Br, Cr Sb, Se and ceutical products. These determinations are of
Zn and depleted in the elements Ca, Rb and Ta great interest not only to the population and
in relation to other peloids reported in the lit- medical professionals, but also to industries
erature and that the elements Ca, Mg, Mn and for quality control of their production
Na are the most available for skin absorption.
From the radiological point of view, it was deter- The objective of this project is to evaluate
mined that the effective dose resulting from the chemical elements in pharmaceutical prod-
topical mud applications is three times lower ucts for identification of their health risks due
than the allowed dose increment of 1 mSv per to the presence of toxic elements or essential
year. Clinical evaluation of the use of PBM for elements in concentrations that could cause
the knees osteoarthritis treatment indicated adverse effect to human health.
a perception of improvement in 100% of the
patients who received this treatment. Phytotherapics and medicinal plants

Another ongoing project on the medicinal use In Brazil, our tropical forests constitute a rich
of clays is the production of artificial peloids. In source of biodiversity for the pharmaceuti-
this project, commercial clays are matured in cal industry. Therefore, this type of study has
mineral-medicinal waters of Águas de Lindóia, aroused great interest in chemical and phar-
Poços de Caldas and Peruíbe sea water. This macological research for scientific verification
study intends to evaluate the influence of of the therapeutic properties from national
water used in the maturation process on the flora specie. Existing research is still incipient
obtained peloid. and there is no effective control of the official

Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares