Update on Zantac carcinogen fears: "It's pretty scary"
<p>Australia’s drug regulator has discovered three-quarters of a popular heartburn medication it recently tested contained increased levels of a suspected cancer-causing substance.</p>
<p>“We’re just validating those results and we’ll be publishing that on our website soon,” said Professor Paul Kelly, the Therapeutic Goods Authority’s chief medical advisor to ABC’s<span> </span><em>7.30</em>.</p>
<p>The TGA recalled the popular medicine Zantac, also known as ranitidine, on October 4 after regulators around the world found that it had been contaminated with the probable carcinogen NDMA.</p>
<p>Despite the risk being low, the TGA took what it described as a “very precautionary approach” by issuing a recall and conducting their own testing.</p>
<p>“It terms of the level of concern, it’s three parts per million. Very, very small amounts,” Professor Kelly said.</p>
<p>“We’ve now tested 135 different batches of this medicine, and we’re finding about 75 per cent of those are positive above that level of three parts per million.</p>
<p>“If someone were to take a ranitidine tablet for their entire life for 70 years, every day, then the risk of cancer may go up by about one in 100,00, so I think you can see from those figures it’s a very small risk.”</p>