The government said that it had mobilized more than 18,000 officers in
recent weeks to break up drug counterfeiting rings and that officials
had seized about $182 million in fake medicine, including fraudulent
drugs for the treatment of cancer, hypertension and diabetes.
The crackdown comes amid growing concerns about the prevalence of counterfeit drugs and tainted food supplies in China,
and increasingly sophisticated counterfeiting operations. The
government acknowledged Sunday that the manufacturing of fake drugs had
become harder to detect. Earlier this year, the authorities in Zhejiang
Province, not far from Shanghai, discovered that hospital workers were
saving old packages, including those of high-end medications, and
reselling them to drug counterfeiters to refill with fake drugs.
In May, the authorities announced the arrest of 200 people accused of
making and selling fake drugs. The government has said many of the fake
medicines were being marketed on Internet sites, giving counterfeiters a
way to sell directly to consumers.
Although the government has repeatedly vowed to step up food and drug
safety measures and announced the arrests of counterfeiters and the
closing of scores of underground operations, the scandals seem to
resurface every few months. In 2007, the government even executed the former director of the food and drug watchdog agency for failing to properly supervise the marketplace.
The recent crackdown comes because of concern that some of the fake
treatments are leading to liver damage and even cardiac arrest.
In a statement released Sunday, the Ministry of Public Security said
that it would offer rewards of about $8,000 to those who help uncover
fake medicine operations.
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