A Korean documentary has revealed that pills containing dried human remains and dangerous bacteria are being smuggled into their country.
(ABC) The dried flesh of dead infants appears to be the not-so-secret ingredient in a health supplement that is reportedly being smuggled out of China.
The performance-enhancement pills, touted for increasing vitality and sex drive, have been found in the luggage of tourists and in international mail, according to South Korean authorities.
They said they had confiscated nearly 17,500 of the human flesh capsules since last August, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
South Korean authorities warned that the pills could be dangerous to human health.
"This is gross, as well as creepy," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who consults regularly with the Centers for Disease Control.
"We have no idea how this material is processed and under what circumstances," he said. "If it's not done in a hygienic fashion to make assurances infections are excluded, it could contain viruses as well as bacteria."
The dried human tissue may also not have been sterilized, according to Schaffner. "It's an extremely dubious for an operation like this with the potential for infection complications."
It is not known whether these pills made of human flesh have appeared in the United States.
"Our experts in global health haven't heard about this subject," said Arleen Porcell, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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