
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004260402
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

L-TRYPTOPHAN CONTAMINANT PINPOINTED

After six months of relentless detective work, federal researchers appear to have traced the mysterious wave of 21 deaths associated with the dietary supplement L-tryptophan to a specific company and a contaminant in its product.

Speaking Wednesday at a forum at the federal Centers for Disease Control, researchers presented the first scientific evidence that the rare and sometimes fatal blood disorder that has already struck more than 1,500 people comes from a version of the supplement made by the Showa Denko Co., one of Japan's largest chemical manufacturers. - The Washington Post

by CNB