Analysis of herbs for As, Hg and Pb has been carried out using slurry sampling inductively coupled plasma
mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with flow injection vapor generation. Slurry containing 0.5% m/v herbal
powder, 0.1% m/v citric acid and 2% v/v HCl was injected into the VG–ICP-MS system for the determination
of As, Hg and Pb that obviate dissolution and mineralization. Standard addition and isotope dilution
methods were used for quantifications in selected herbal powders. This method has been validated by the
determination of As, Hg and Pb in NIST standard reference materials SRM 1547 Peach Leaves and SRM
1573a Tomato Leaves. The As, Hg and Pb analysis results of the reference materials agreed with the certified
values. The precision obtained by the reported procedure was better than 7% for all determinations.
The detection limit estimated from standard addition curve was 0.008, 0.003, and 0.007 ng m L1 for As,
Hg and Pb, respectively.