Bogus drugs flooddeveloping world
Friday, March 2, 2007
COUNTERFEIT medicines, some of them sold over the Internet, are swamping unregulated markets in developing nations with sometimes fatal results, the United Nations (UN) drug control watchdog yesterday said.
Some 25 to 50 per cent of the medicines used in developing countries are now believed to be fake, the International Narcotics Control Board said in its 2006 report, quoting World Health Organisation (WHO) findings. Providers ranged from makeshift village markets to web sites. "This market is believed to be increasing rapidly. (It) exposes patients to serious health risks by providing access to poorly or incorrectly labelled medicines that are ineffective, substandard and, in some cases, even lethal," it said.
The board spotlighted dangers inherent in graft-ridden, weakly-regulated markets, where bogus medicines had proliferated, and the widespread and growing misuse of prescription and weight-loss drugs.
The annual report also said Iranians had become the world's highest per capita abusers of opiates as they straddled export corridors from lawless Afghanistan, source of more than 90 per cent of the opium produced globally.
The Vienna-based board is an independent judicial body elected by UN members to monitor the implementation of world drug control conventions.
Separately, the board denied accusations from rights groups that it was hampering efforts to prevent the spread of Aids.
It said it supported exchanges of sterile syringes for drug addicts, but not what it called poorly supervised "drug injection rooms" because these only encouraged trade in illegal narcotics.
To meet the growing demand for cheap medicines, drug traffickers have increasingly turned to the Internet, postal and courier services to distribute their ersatz wares.
"The abuse and trafficking of prescription drugs is set to exceed abuse of illicit drugs. Demand for these products is so high that it has given rise to a new problem counterfeit products ... Progress made over the last 40 years in the control of illicit drugs is now being undermined," the report said.
Board President Philip Emafo said governments needed to enforce existing laws and rethink how to tackle Internet crime.
The report said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and WHO should help member states that have little financial means and are overwhelmed by traffickers able to evade or buy off poorly-paid and equipped police forces.
Emafo, a Nigerian, said Iran had developed the highest rate of opiate abuse because it was the "unfortunate" first conduit point for opium pouring out of Afghanistan towards Europe. Reuters
Some 25 to 50 per cent of the medicines used in developing countries are now believed to be fake, the International Narcotics Control Board said in its 2006 report, quoting World Health Organisation (WHO) findings. Providers ranged from makeshift village markets to web sites. "This market is believed to be increasing rapidly. (It) exposes patients to serious health risks by providing access to poorly or incorrectly labelled medicines that are ineffective, substandard and, in some cases, even lethal," it said.
The board spotlighted dangers inherent in graft-ridden, weakly-regulated markets, where bogus medicines had proliferated, and the widespread and growing misuse of prescription and weight-loss drugs.
The annual report also said Iranians had become the world's highest per capita abusers of opiates as they straddled export corridors from lawless Afghanistan, source of more than 90 per cent of the opium produced globally.
The Vienna-based board is an independent judicial body elected by UN members to monitor the implementation of world drug control conventions.
Separately, the board denied accusations from rights groups that it was hampering efforts to prevent the spread of Aids.
It said it supported exchanges of sterile syringes for drug addicts, but not what it called poorly supervised "drug injection rooms" because these only encouraged trade in illegal narcotics.
To meet the growing demand for cheap medicines, drug traffickers have increasingly turned to the Internet, postal and courier services to distribute their ersatz wares.
"The abuse and trafficking of prescription drugs is set to exceed abuse of illicit drugs. Demand for these products is so high that it has given rise to a new problem counterfeit products ... Progress made over the last 40 years in the control of illicit drugs is now being undermined," the report said.
Board President Philip Emafo said governments needed to enforce existing laws and rethink how to tackle Internet crime.
The report said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and WHO should help member states that have little financial means and are overwhelmed by traffickers able to evade or buy off poorly-paid and equipped police forces.
Emafo, a Nigerian, said Iran had developed the highest rate of opiate abuse because it was the "unfortunate" first conduit point for opium pouring out of Afghanistan towards Europe. Reuters
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