Counterfeit Diabetes Test Strips From China
Thanks to MedGadget for bringing this to my attention. Did you know that as many as 1 million fake diabetes test strips (manufactured in China but imported via Canada) made it onto the US market? About 10 million Americans use the One Touch Ultra system for measuring their glucose and titrating their insulin doses. Bloomberg news had this to say:
“Growth in counterfeit medicines and devices is probably
the biggest health threat besides infectious disease,” says
Peter Pitts, director of the Center for Medicines in the Public
Interest in New York and formerly an FDA official investigating
knockoff drugs.
The court filings disclose, for the first time, that China
is the source of about one million phony test strips that have
turned up in at least 35 states and in Canada, Greece, India,
Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.”
The test strips don’t measure glucose levels reliably and could result in patients dosing their insulin incorrectly. So be careful out there, folks… make sure that the test strips you use are not counterfeit. Check the lot number on your package to make sure it’s not one of these fake numbers.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
Oh this is horrible! I didn’t hear anything about this either until I read your blog. Thanks for sharing this very important message with us Dr. Val.