Doctors Face Hard Choices
Interesting article by Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a New Yorker staff writer, about the difficult issues faced by physicians who learn that they have implanted counterfeit devices in their patients.
| Comments (0)NY Police Commissioner ties Counterfeiting to Terrorism
Speaking at the Harper’s Bazaar third annual Anticounterfeiting Summit last week, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly reported that the terrorist cell responsible for the 2004 Madrid bombings was funded by sales of counterfeit CDs, as well as more traditional criminal activity such as drug sales and car theft. “Trademark counterfeiting is virtually all profit and it isn’t funding anything good,” Kelly said., as reported by Metro New York. Kelly also reported that, in the last two years, the NYPD has seized counterfeit goods worth around $18 million.
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2006 Called Banner Year for Counterfeiting
Statements made at the Brussels-based World Customs Organization conference in Senegal:
"Counterfeit products represent eight to 10 percent of world trade, about 500 billion euros (about 640 billion dollars) that circulate the world" every year. This according to Michel Danet, Secretary General of the WCO.
Counterfeit medicines are "valued at six percent of sales figures of the global pharmaceutical industry." Statement attributed to a conference organizer.| Comments (0)
FDA Warns of Counterfeit Blood Glucose Test Strips
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a warning that counterfeit blood glucose test strips are being sold for use with various models of LifeScan Inc., One Touch Brand blood glucose monitors. The counterfeit strips were distributed to pharmacies and other retailers primarily in Flordia, New York, Ohio, Maryland and Missouri. According to the FDA, the counterfeit test strips can give incorrect blood glucose values that could cause patients to take the wrong amount of insulin, resulting in serious injury or death.
The counterfeit test strips are branded "One Touch Basic Profile" (lot #272894A, 2619932 or 2606340)and "One Touch Ultra" (lot #2691191).
Also today, the European Union and China announced that they have started monitoring major seaports including Rotterdam and Shenzhen for counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
The rise in drug counterfeiting in recent years is truly alarming, reflecting the extent to which organized crime and other hardened criminals have turned to counterfeiting as a major source of revenue.
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