Report: Immigrants' folk medicines toxic

TORONTO, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A Toronto pediatric poison specialist says many immigrants using traditional folk medicines are unknowingly poisoning their children.

Dr. Gideon Koren, head of the Hospital for Sick Children's Motherisk program told the Toronto Star many of the immigrants' home remedies contain lead and other heavy metal toxins,

"While we have a lot of respect for their traditions, many of the things they bring from their countries were never tested," he said.

Koren said while the hospital treats only "a couple" of life-threatening cases of heavy metal poisoning a year traced back to traditional remedies, it was "the tip of the iceberg" in terms of the problem's scope, the Star said.

Dr. Warren Bell, a founder of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, said the biggest source of childhood lead contamination by far remains paint found in older houses.