World Health Organisation (WHO) officials say that counterfeit drugs and poor storage are endangering the health of millions of people in Asia.
Ron Corben wrote for Voice Of Amercia the article WTO Fears Growing Malaria Drug Resistance May Be Spreading (November 28, 2010): “In recent years, authorities cracked down against illegal factories in China. Meanwhile counterfeit producers have been found elsewhere, including Cambodia and Burma.”
Simeon Bennett wrote for Asia Health Space the article Malaria Redux And Counterfeit Drugs (April 2, 2010): “In Pailin [Cambodia], a flood of counterfeit pills from China and elsewhere is helping to breed a superbug that resist even the most-effective medicine.” Read .
This problem is recurring for years now:
2009: See Simeon Bennett’s 2009 Bloomberg article Fake Malaria Drugs Spread, Breed Resistance to Lethal Parasite.
2008: ScienceDaily article ‘Fake Malaria Drugs Made In China: Tracking Down The Threat To Global Health‘.
2007: Jill McGivering’s 2007 BBC News article ‘Tracking the fake malaria drug threat‘.
Eye for an eye
What is a fitting punishment for these counterfeiters? Denying them help when they would contract Malaria? But even if you would impose the biblical sanction of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, how can you sanction someone that contributes to the death of not one but thousands of people who contracted Malaria and use counterfeit drugs that do not cure them?
