Smell of Chinese Herbs Mistaken for “Toxic Chemicals,” Stops SFO Flight

Anyone who grew up a child of Chinese immigrants can probably relate to the embarrassment of having to use medicines that aren’t commonplace in American society, especially those that leave an unmistakable odor. Just this week, the smell from Chinese medicinal herbs on board United flight 972 caused the plane to undergo a delay for a second security check, once a flight attendant caught a whiff of the herbs (which she described as a toxic chemical smell) in a carry-on bag. The owners of the bag containing the herbs were an elderly Chinese couple. They were not charged and the plane eventually made its way to its final destination of Chicago.

While I’ve never experienced anything that embarrassing due to Chinese medicines, I’ve had my share of history and ridicule for using wan-jian-you (tiger balm); seirogan (a creosote based laxative); and salonpas (pain relieving patch). All of these produced a highly distinct odor and were immediately noticed by my non-Chinese classmates during my school years. To store these medicines, I’ve often put them in double ziploc bags, but usually even that doesn’t do much to contain the odor.

As offensive as the smell is of many of these medicines, I still rely on them to get the job done. I just haven’t found any American medicines that are as effective at producing results as my Asian medicine standbys. So I guess I will continue to offend others with my unmistakable odor.

I’m sure there are other equally offensive Asian medicines out there, and plenty of stories to go with them. Lucky for me, while my smell may have offended others, I never stopped a plane from leaving for its destination.