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GREENSBORO — When an employee with the Guilford County Department of Public Health walked into the African and Caribbean market to ask for “Nzu,” a traditional remedy for morning sickness, it seemed a common request.

The clerk readily produced small, unlabeled bags of what looked like dried clay — Nzu (pronounced new-zoo) — for a few dollars apiece, sold under brand names including Calabash Chalk, Calabar stone, La Craie, Argile and Mabele.

Not so common were lab test results when the health department sent off the samples to be analyzed.

The clay, intended for pregnant women to eat, contained alarmingly high levels of arsenic, a heavy metal that causes cancer and nerve damage. Worse, the tests found lead levels from 60 to 80 times what the FDA considers too high.

Lead has been linked to impaired child development, behavioral problems, brain damage and even death.

“The biggest concern, especially if you’re pregnant, is that lead is going directly to the fetus,” said Paula Cox, a senior environmental health specialist for the county. “We could potentially see children born with elevated lead levels.”

Cox said the FDA issued a health alert in December, and that inspectors here began investigating in Greensboro and High Point.

There is no word yet on where the product originated, but the Department of Agriculture will trace it as a “food” investigation. 

Locally, Nzu was sold not only at the African specialty store, but also was recently stocked at a longtime Asian market. That shop had sold out of the product, said Cox. He said there was little way to determine how long or widespread the use of the contaminated product had been.

Particularly worrisome was the idea that pregnant women used Nzu for nausea. Cox said the concentration of lead would make the consumer sick to her stomach.

Mistaking that for morning sickness, the user might then ingest more of the product, and wind up with an even higher level of lead ingestion.

With help from refugee liaisons at FaithAction International, the health department put out an advisory and also spurred the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to issue a statewide warning Friday.

Because of the large influx of African refugees to Guilford, Cox said it was urgent to get the word to pregnant women and their obstetricians.

With a regimen of prenatal vitamins, doctors can act to bring down affected women’s lead levels.

“It’s critical that if women are using this product, that they stop immediately and tell their doctor,” Cox said. “Otherwise, we can’t help until after the baby is born.”
 

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lorraine.ahearn@news-record.com