By now, you may have seen the headlines that major drugstore retailers like CVS and Walgreens have been pulling Zantac off of shelves due to certain versions of the heartburn medication containing potentially cancer-causing ingredients.

The pharmacy chains announced this week that they were no longer selling the product after the Food and Drug Administration issued a statement in mid-September saying that Zantac and its generic form, ranitidine, may contain low levels of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a nitrosamine impurity. According to the FDA, NDMA has been classified as a probable human carcinogen based on laboratory test results.

The FDA had been investigating the occurrence of NDMA and other impurities in some blood pressure and heart failure medicines (mainly angiotensin II receptor blockers, or ARBs ). After recognizing nitrosamine impurities in these products, the organization recommended several recalls on specific batches of those drugs. Now, the FDA has discovered that NDMA has been found in certain batches of ranitidine drugs, which are commonly taken to treat ulcers and heartburn.

So, how does all of this affect you? And should you be concerned if youve taken the medication recently? Heres what you should know, according to experts.

First, a little primer on the major ways NDMA can be damaging.

As mentioned above, NDMA is considered to be a carcinogen. James Brian Byrd , an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, said research has shown that ingesting NDMA could potentially put people at risk for disease.

In animals, it has been found to have the potential to cause cancer, he said. NDMA is found in some foods and even in water at times, but it is certainly unfortunate that it has been in a variety of drug products since July 2018, including now some ranitidine products, he explained.

So how does the NDMA in food and water compare to drugs like ranitidine in terms of our health? According to Niket Sonpal , a New York-based internist and gastroenterologist and adjunct professor at Touro College, its all about the amount in the medicine and what experts know about it (which, right now, isnt much).

NDMA is found in food in small doses. The difference between finding it in foods at low levels and finding it in drugs is that testing needs to be done to make sure that there arent bigger amounts of impurities seeping into the formulas for these medications, Sonpal said. Whereas, generally speaking, the amount of NDMA in food and drink stays low.

And its not just Zantac and other related heartburn medicines that have been affected by NDMA contamination.

Sonpal said that NDMA was one of the chemicals behind the recall of medications like Losartan , which is used to treat high blood pressure, over the past year.

He added that in addition to being a potential cause of cancer, overexposure to NDMA can cause yellowing of the skin, nausea, fever, vomiting and dizziness.

Here are the details on why the medication was pulled.