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Taking Chances with Mail Order Viagra
20 December 2004
Dec. 20 - Millions of men say Viagra makes
them feel like the love machine they want to be, but that could
all come to a screeching halt if you buy your thrill in the little
blue pill off the internet.
"We've found counterfeit Viagra that's had up to 400 times the maximum
recommended active ingredient. That's a dangerous product."
John Theirault cracks counterfeit prescription drug rings for Pfizer,
the makers of Viagra.
"We've found people manufacturing counterfeit products in grubby garages and warehouses in Columbia and in out of the way places in China. Just imagine the quality control in a make shift garage or a bedroom in Thailand. Some studies show when you order off the internet, there's a 50% chance your Viagra is coming from one of those places.
Do you think you'll be able to tell the difference when your pills arrive in the mail?
Michael Cohen, Institute of Safe Medication Practices said, "It's like the wild, wild west, you just don't know what you're going to get. "
The one investigative team decided to find out what they would get and ordered from 5 different websites. Pfizer helped with the testing.
The first delivery arrived in a prescription bottle from a pharmacy in New York. Looks like the real thing. And in fact, it is.
The second shipment came in a neat little box. Again, real Viagra and it too was Viagra. But guess what? Pfizer says it's a free sample from a doctor's office.
Cohen said, "It's highly illegal in the United States to deal with samples. Physicians may not sell them."
The next package arrived from India and there was no little blue pill. There
was no little blue pill inside. What arrived was Caverta,
the FDA calls it a foreign generic: unapproved in the United States.
And then we received white pills from Great Britain. The FDA says they are mimic Viagra and illegal in this country.
"You have no idea what the ingredients are. You don't know if it's too much or too little in that pill and people get hurt. It could cause cardiac side effects, including making your heart stop. And of course if you take this and you do have a problem, there's often nowhere to complain," said Cohen.
Many of these websites are overseas and can disappear overnight. Meanwhile, you're left singing a different tune.
The websites that sold the Viagra insist they've done nothing wrong.
If you buy prescription drugs on the internet, experts say protect yourself. Buy at sites that display the seal from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
source:-http://www.waff.com
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