Customer Safety
One of many potentially dangerous product made in China are counterfeit blood testing strips used by millions of American diabetics and sold under the brand names OneTouch Ultra and OneTouch Basic. Johnson & Johnson's “Lifescan” makes the strips that have been copied.
Diabetics count on the blood strips to help measure blood sugar levels. A false reading could result in an injection of the wrong dose of insulin.
Johnson & Johnson discovered the bogus strips last year when customers called in to complain. After a global investigation, the company found the counterfeit strips were imported from Halson Pharmaceutical, a company based in China.
The owner, of the company has been locked up in a Chinese prison. His company produced not only testing strips for diabetics, but also tuberculosis, pregnancy and HIV test kits. This is a huge public health problem, which is potentially as dangerous as an infectious disease.
Health and Human Services Secretary, Mike Leavitt says: “We need to coordinate not only among government agencies, but with those who ship and those who produce and those who receive and those who sell.”
A spokeswoman for China's regulatory authority admits, "We can see that weaknesses exist in the supervision and exports of drugs and medical devices.” China depends on those who import their goods to check them to insure their safety, which usually means the American customer.
Fortunately, Johnson & Johnson is a reputable company with the resources to conduct a widespread investigation. Johnson & Johnson claims that it has taken care of that matter, but make sure you’re buying your medical supplies from a reputable company.
Diabetics count on the blood strips to help measure blood sugar levels. A false reading could result in an injection of the wrong dose of insulin.
Johnson & Johnson discovered the bogus strips last year when customers called in to complain. After a global investigation, the company found the counterfeit strips were imported from Halson Pharmaceutical, a company based in China.
The owner, of the company has been locked up in a Chinese prison. His company produced not only testing strips for diabetics, but also tuberculosis, pregnancy and HIV test kits. This is a huge public health problem, which is potentially as dangerous as an infectious disease.
Health and Human Services Secretary, Mike Leavitt says: “We need to coordinate not only among government agencies, but with those who ship and those who produce and those who receive and those who sell.”
A spokeswoman for China's regulatory authority admits, "We can see that weaknesses exist in the supervision and exports of drugs and medical devices.” China depends on those who import their goods to check them to insure their safety, which usually means the American customer.
Fortunately, Johnson & Johnson is a reputable company with the resources to conduct a widespread investigation. Johnson & Johnson claims that it has taken care of that matter, but make sure you’re buying your medical supplies from a reputable company.
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