Caution: Medicines! - Alternative View

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Caution: Medicines! - Alternative View
Caution: Medicines! - Alternative View

Video: Caution: Medicines! - Alternative View

Video: Caution: Medicines! - Alternative View
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Counterfeit medicines claim thousands of lives every year. Counterfeit medicines pose a global threat to all of humanity. But are we doing everything in order to protect ourselves from the negative influence of counterfeits?

There are dummies, but there is also poison

None of us are safe from buying a fake medicine. Taking a counterfeit drug can end well if the medicine turns out to be just a dummy, and the disease is a trifle that does not pose a threat. Otherwise, the patient will be hospitalized, and at the most extreme - death. Counterfeits are not easy to distinguish from real drugs, but they still have a number of characteristic features.

Basically, fakes are divided into three groups. The first is pacifiers (placebos), in which there are no active ingredients. They may contain flour, starch, chalk and other "healing" ingredients. If you take a "placebo" for a trifling illness, then such a remedy is practically harmless. It can even have positive psychological effects. But if the patient has a serious problem, for example, a heart attack, then even an ordinary dummy can conceal a real danger not only to health, but also to life.

The second group of counterfeits is the replacement of one drug with another, cheaper one. As a rule, in this case, the medication becomes less effective. The third group of fakes involves a multiple underestimation of the dosage of the active substance in comparison with the original.

There is another, more rare group of fakes. These are medicines made in violation of technology. Their quality and shelf life is much shorter than that of the original. By mistake, the medication may fall into the wrong packaging, and this will turn into big problems for the patient.

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Fakes have taken over the world

About ten percent of all drugs sold are counterfeit. From the sale of counterfeit products, dishonest manufacturers and pharmacists earn over $ 21 billion a year. According to some reports, the revenue from the turnover of counterfeits reaches 75 billion. Interpol claims that a third of all medicines are falsified. Most of the counterfeits are found among antibiotics, as well as among drugs for the treatment of sexual dysfunctions, oncology and malaria.

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People are dying from the use of counterfeit drugs all over the world. At the 82nd General Assembly, UN members issued a statement according to which up to a million people die every year from counterfeit drugs.

Are there many counterfeit medicines produced and sold in Russia? Some experts say that every fifth package is fake, others say that every tenth. One thing is clear - there is a problem, and it is very serious. In 2014, the punishment for the manufacture, import and sale of counterfeit and falsified medicines was tightened. But this does not stop lovers of easy money.

A fierce fight against the manufacture of counterfeit drugs is being waged in India. There, for such an offense, you can easily get a life sentence, and the most "progressive" fighters for justice even propose to execute swindlers. In Russia, for such a crime, which, in extreme cases, can lead to death, the maximum punishment is 12 years in prison.

The main places of distribution of counterfeit drugs are African countries and the states of Southeast Asia. An interesting result was shown by a test carried out in Holland. The researchers found that of the 370 Viagra pills taken for analysis, only 10 were real. A huge stream of counterfeit products goes through the Internet. Gradually, the "world wide web" has become an ideal channel for the sale of fake drugs.

How to detect a fake

What do you need to know in order not to run into fake medicine? It turns out that everything is quite simple. Try not to buy drugs from your hands in the markets, from strangers, in dubious small pharmacies and kiosks, as well as via the Internet. Buy medicines from large pharmacies that work with trusted suppliers and are licensed by the state.

Remember, well-advertised drugs are the most attractive to fraudsters. Pay special attention to the packaging of the medicinal product. There is no point in investing significant amounts of money in packaging of inexpensive fake pills. Therefore, the cheapest paints are used for manufacturing. Rubbing the counterfeit packaging will leave the paint on your fingers.

In addition, the box of the medicine may be flawed, and the text of the instruction may contain grammatical errors or be photocopied. Large manufacturers use original three-dimensional signs and holograms to protect medicines from counterfeiting. As a rule, there are no such markings on counterfeit packaging.

The certificate, bottle, packaging, blister must have the same batch, expiration date and release date.