Dr Jun Sheng Wang outside the shop which opened in November (00903118)

A CRIMINAL investigation is under way after a Jersey shop sold pills believed to contain an illegal substance that can cause cancer and kidney failure.

The Dr Beijing Chinese medicine shop in Queen Street is thought to have sold several boxes of pills containing aristolochia – a toxic herbal substance banned in Jersey and the UK.

The Health Department are now urging anyone who has bought the pills to contact their GP.

Aristolochia was banned in the UK in 1999 and in Jersey in 2002 after it was found to cause serious damage to kidney function and, in some cases, kidney failure and cancer.

Dr Jun Sheng Wang, who opened the shop last November, said that the Health Department was over-reacting. ‘We bought 20 boxes of these pills from a reputable supplier and we have only sold three of them.

‘The pills have not even been tested yet, so I don’t understand why the Health Department is worrying people unduly. We would not knowingly sell anything containing this substance,’ he said.