[ti:The Dangers of Counterfeit Drugs (First of Two Parts)] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Development Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.60]Development Report. [00:04.54]Counterfeit medicines [00:06.39]are a widespread problem [00:09.11]in developing countries. [00:11.45]Like other counterfeits, [00:13.60]they look like real products. [00:16.19]But counterfeit drugs [00:18.53]may contain too much, [00:21.03]too little or none of [00:23.47]the active ingredients [00:25.51]of the real thing. [00:27.68]People do not get [00:29.27]the medicine they need. [00:31.29]And in some cases [00:33.03]the counterfeits cause [00:35.22]tragic problems of their own. [00:38.50]About a year ago, [00:40.05]more than eighty children [00:41.81]in Nigeria died [00:43.92]after being given medicine [00:46.31]for teething pain. [00:48.25]And more than twenty children [00:50.85]in Bangladesh died last year [00:54.07]after being given acetaminophen. [00:56.88]In both cases, the medications [01:00.02]contained ingredients that looked, [01:03.09]smelled and tasted [01:05.69]like the real thing. [01:07.80]But the medicine [01:09.10]in Bangladesh was produced [01:11.55]by a local drug manufacturer [01:14.45]that used a dangerous [01:16.79]substitute to save money. [01:19.83]And in the case in Nigeria, [01:22.27]an illegal chemical dealer [01:25.27]sold counterfeit glycerin [01:27.92]to a drug company. [01:29.83]That company then [01:31.21]used the chemical [01:32.71]to make the teething medicine. [01:35.00]The World Health Organization says [01:37.78]the problem with counterfeit medicines [01:40.59]is especially bad in Africa, [01:44.15]Asia and Latin America. [01:47.11]The W.H.O. estimates that up [01:50.00]to thirty percent of the medicines [01:53.35]on sale in many of those countries [01:56.73]are counterfeit. [01:58.55]Counterfeit medications [02:00.32]are also a problem [02:01.91]in the Middle East and [02:03.92]in many countries of [02:05.59]the former Soviet Union. [02:08.29]The problem is less widespread [02:11.11]among industrialized countries. [02:14.19]The W.H.O. says [02:16.28]counterfeits represents [02:18.72]less than one percent of [02:20.92]the illegal drug market [02:22.84]in countries like the United States, [02:25.53]Canada, Japan, and New Zealand. [02:30.08]But the agency also says [02:32.62]as much as fifty percent [02:35.25]of the medicine sold [02:36.99]on the Internet is counterfeit. [02:40.25]Most people have no way [02:42.64]to tell if medications [02:44.94]are what they seem. [02:46.84]The Center for Medicine [02:48.86]in the Public Interest [02:50.50]is a group in New York [02:52.20]supported in part [02:53.95]by the drug industry. [02:56.18]It predicts counterfeit sales [02:58.92]will reach seventy-five billion [03:02.12]dollars worldwide this year [03:04.94]-- nearly double the level [03:07.11]of two thousand five. [03:08.46]Substandard medicines [03:10.90]are also a widespread problem [03:14.28]in the developing world. [03:15.99]How are they different [03:18.49]from counterfeits? [03:19.83]The legal difference [03:21.78]is that counterfeit drugs [03:23.87]are made with the purpose [03:25.88]of misleading people. [03:28.15]Substandard drugs [03:29.81]are just poorly made. [03:32.15]And that's the VOA Special English [03:35.73]Development Report, [03:37.54]written by June Simms. [03:39.53]Next week, learn what is being done [03:42.86]to fight counterfeit medicines. [03:45.29]Transcripts, podcasts [03:48.54]and captioned videos [03:49.91]of our reports can be found [03:51.60]at 51voa.com. [03:55.09]I'm Steve Ember.