Counterfeit homeopathy drugs
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Khalilur Rahman
We have a bad news for the vast majority of our people who often take recourse to homeopathy treatment for illness. Taking advantage of widespread use of homeopathy drugs, a section of unscrupulous traders is engaged in faking those products endangering health of patients.
The faking of homeopathy drugs, a common act of deception, came to the fore when early last week a team of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) raided a factory at Babubazar area in old Dhaka city which was producing spurious remedies. The RAB arrested five people from the spot who were found engaged in making fake medicines. About 1200 litres of rectified spirit, 18 drums containing ethanol, a highly concentrated alcohol, were seized. The RAB team also recovered huge quantity of labels of various foreign and local brands of homeopathy medicines. The arrested workers of the factory, owned by one Hero Kamal who managed to escape, were pasting those labels on the bottles.
Hero Kamal reportedly hired the factory as a warehouse, kept its shutter closed and engaged workers to produce fake homeopathy medicines secretly. What the arrested workers revealed to the law enforcers is alarming. They confessed to the RAB team that the fake medicines and spirit were being to supplied various homeopathy stores across the country. The spirit sent to homeopathy stores is purchased by drug addicts. Free sale of spirit also exposes public health to serious hazards. On several occasions in the past people who consumed spirit fell seriously ill, some of whom died, in different parts of the country. The concerned authorities now must act promptly to recover fake homeopathy medicines and the spirit already supplied to shops. Unfortunately, organized efforts are lacking to seize spurious materials from the market which should have been the first and foremost duty of the authorities. In most cases, the seizure of harmful substances from the market is difficult, but not impossible.
Let us cite an example. During the rule of Vajpaye government in India poisonous mustard seeds were distributed throughout the country for producing oil and when the matter was detected the administration stopped supplying those from suspected godowns and recovered most of the poisonous seeds from the markets. So why we cannot do this? An officer of the Drug Administration, Mohammad Akib, told media persons at Babubazar factory that the seized materials were harmful for human health. Therefore we urge the authorities to ensure recovery of this harmful substance already supplied to market.
Deaths of 76 children in 1991 and 28 others last year after taking adulterated paracetamol syrup are still fresh in public memory. We strongly believe that if proper action was taken against the adulteration of paracetamol in 1991 the deaths of 28 children for the same reason last year could be averted.
We appreciate ongoing government drives against spurious drugs as well as adulterated foods. But safety to public health depends on recovery of whole lot of spurious products, either medicines or edibles, already marketed.
E-mail : khalilbdh@gmail.com
We have a bad news for the vast majority of our people who often take recourse to homeopathy treatment for illness. Taking advantage of widespread use of homeopathy drugs, a section of unscrupulous traders is engaged in faking those products endangering health of patients.
The faking of homeopathy drugs, a common act of deception, came to the fore when early last week a team of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) raided a factory at Babubazar area in old Dhaka city which was producing spurious remedies. The RAB arrested five people from the spot who were found engaged in making fake medicines. About 1200 litres of rectified spirit, 18 drums containing ethanol, a highly concentrated alcohol, were seized. The RAB team also recovered huge quantity of labels of various foreign and local brands of homeopathy medicines. The arrested workers of the factory, owned by one Hero Kamal who managed to escape, were pasting those labels on the bottles.
Hero Kamal reportedly hired the factory as a warehouse, kept its shutter closed and engaged workers to produce fake homeopathy medicines secretly. What the arrested workers revealed to the law enforcers is alarming. They confessed to the RAB team that the fake medicines and spirit were being to supplied various homeopathy stores across the country. The spirit sent to homeopathy stores is purchased by drug addicts. Free sale of spirit also exposes public health to serious hazards. On several occasions in the past people who consumed spirit fell seriously ill, some of whom died, in different parts of the country. The concerned authorities now must act promptly to recover fake homeopathy medicines and the spirit already supplied to shops. Unfortunately, organized efforts are lacking to seize spurious materials from the market which should have been the first and foremost duty of the authorities. In most cases, the seizure of harmful substances from the market is difficult, but not impossible.
Let us cite an example. During the rule of Vajpaye government in India poisonous mustard seeds were distributed throughout the country for producing oil and when the matter was detected the administration stopped supplying those from suspected godowns and recovered most of the poisonous seeds from the markets. So why we cannot do this? An officer of the Drug Administration, Mohammad Akib, told media persons at Babubazar factory that the seized materials were harmful for human health. Therefore we urge the authorities to ensure recovery of this harmful substance already supplied to market.
Deaths of 76 children in 1991 and 28 others last year after taking adulterated paracetamol syrup are still fresh in public memory. We strongly believe that if proper action was taken against the adulteration of paracetamol in 1991 the deaths of 28 children for the same reason last year could be averted.
We appreciate ongoing government drives against spurious drugs as well as adulterated foods. But safety to public health depends on recovery of whole lot of spurious products, either medicines or edibles, already marketed.
E-mail : khalilbdh@gmail.com