Counterfeit Drugs — They May Be In Your Medicine Cabinet

You may think, like I did, that counterfeit drugs are somebody else’s problem. If they are dumb enough to order drugs from some third-world country that probably supports drug manufacturers that use only fake ingredients? Well. Caveat Emptor — that person gets what he deserves. Not my problem.

I was so wrong!

Turns out counterfeit drugs are being manufactured, stolen, diluted, adulterated — right here in the United States of America. AND — they are infused into our American drug supply.

Lipitor, Epogen, Procrit and dozens of others have been taken by unsuspecting American patients. If you had bogus Lipitor, and took it for months, how would you know? If you took blood pressure medicine for months, and it turned out it was fake, how would you know?

I’ve written a series of articles about counterfeit drugs, and what patients can do to protect themselves at my About.com site. If you think the FDA is doing much about it, you’re wrong. They’ve been hamstrung by those who are making the most money.

Included in the articles is a review of the book Dangerous Doses, A True Story of Cops, Counterfeiters, and the Contamination of the American Drug Supply, plus an interview with its author, Katherine Eban.

Check it out. Protect yourself. Talk to your pharmacist. This is scary stuff.

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Trisha Torrey
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