Fake drugs kill

Scientists beat alarm and called for urgent action at the international level to end the sale of counterfeit medicines.

In a scientific journal published an article, which highlights the serious risks because of forgery issued for these medicines. The most widespread problem was in developing countries.
Article in the British medical journal entitled "fake drugs, guns kill." The team of scientists from various countries, which is led by Paul Newman of the University of Oxford, blames criminal organizations in the death of many people who counterfeit medicines.

Among the examples cited by eye drops are false, "vaccine" against meningitis, facing an easy tap water and "contraception", made from wheat flour.

All these "medicines" manufactured in clandestine laboratories.

Five Asian countries, researchers found numerous cases of trafficking in counterfeit drugs.

"A third of the samples drug against malaria, we have acquired in Southeast Asia were false and did not contain any traces of chemicals that should have been part of medicine," says Neuman.

Lucrative business

The World Health Organization believes that forgery is approximately the 10th of the drugs sold worldwide. Paul Newman and his colleagues propose to the WHO to discuss the issue at the forthcoming conference in September.

According to Lambert Rago, WHO Representative, scientists do not exaggerate the extent of the danger:
"Counterfeit drugs kill people. Here comes the many reports that the vaccine does not contain any therapeutic components, therefore, the vaccination did not occur, "says Rago.

The production of counterfeit medicines has become a lucrative illegal businesses are international in scope. According to Rago, often counterfeits are produced in large numbers in one country and sold in another.

WHO has appealed to various pharmacological Association and customs authorities to join efforts in the fight against trafficking in counterfeit medicines.