A fatality due to the use of cantharides from Mylabris phalerata as an abortifacient.

A fatal case of attempting to procure abortion by the ingestion of the crude extract of cantharides from over 200 dried Mylabris phalerata is presented. The quantification of catharidin in blood, urine and liver by gas chromatography using trichloroacetic acid in the extraction process and butobarbitone as the internal standard is described. Ante- and post-mortem blood levels were found to be 0.27 and 0.11 micrograms/ml respectively. To conclude, the lack of legislative control in Hong Kong over Chinese herbal medicines is highlighted.