DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/ 20 October)– The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has warned anew on the proliferation of banned drugs peddled in the sidewalks of the Chinatown district here, the same products that were the target of previous confiscations and arrests.
Arnold Alindada, FDA Davao Region director, said the banned drugs being peddled again were those promising to promote weight loss and enhance sexual potency.
“There’s even a medical doctor here that suffered a colon cancer after taking big doses of that slimming drug,” Alindada said, without identifying the patient.
Tests conducted on the banned drug enhancers immediately after the previous confiscations “indicated a high level of mercury in that supposed slimming drug,” he said.
The allowable presence of mercury should not exceed one part per million, “but the banned drug contained 1,000 ppm,” Alindada added.
The FDA did not identify the origin of the banned drugs, although they could have been sneaked in the city using either the cities of Zamboanga and General Santos.
Alindada said the FDA was “surprised at how fast these contraband items were able to pass through the ports.”
“They have foreign markings, as with many other banned drugs that have Chinese or Korean characters,” he said. “When we tested these supposed health products, we found that there were no labels that would help us trace their date and origin of manufacturing.”
Alindada said that the banned drugs surfaced anew in the sidewalks along Uyanguren St., the busiest street in the Chinatown district. In one confiscation in the past, he said they collected 400 cartons of these items.
“We will warn our residents again not to buy these products as these are cancer-causing drugs [and cannot] enhance your potency or burn your fats,” he added. (MC/MindaNews)
