Fake drugs are killing thousands
Sooner or later, most travellers to southeast Asia will eventually buy a fake. I used to have drawers of the stuff – a reproduction gold Rolex was one unfortunate purchase and I'm sure the odd counterfeit designer handbag made it home as a gift. It's tempting to view the trade as harmless. If the accessories of the super-rich lose a little of their cachet, so be it.
The truly dark side of this business, however, is not the Hermes scarves or the Gucci wallets. It's the drugs.
Britain's Guardian newspaper is reporting an "epidemic" of counterfeit therapeutic drugs that it says is sweeping southeast Asia, effectively killing hundreds of thousands of patients who believe they are receiving vital – and life-saving – treatment.
By Mark Snelling
23 February 2007