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BMJ No 7093 Volume 314 News Saturday 24 May 1997
WHO calls for tighter controls on InternetThe World Health Organisation has called on its member nations to close a loophole on the control of prescription drugs that has been opened up by the Internet.At its recent 50th world health assembly in Geneva the WHO passed a resolution expressing concern about the advertising, promotion, and uncontrolled sale of medical products by electronic communication and urging a global battle against this growing phenomenon. The Internet bypasses national drug monitoring bodies, which test imported medical goods and reject those that are unapproved, unevaluated, fraudulent, unsafe, or ineffective. The WHO declared that ordering medical products over the computer network may endanger public health as well as pose a risk to individual patients. It called on member states to boost cooperation among pharmaceutical companies, the police, and the business community. Obtaining medicines through the Internet is easy. A growing number of commercial sites are selling over the counter or prescription drugs, including anti-aging hormones, antibiotics, and insulin. A customer provides a credit card number and a package is sent to his or her home or to a nearby post office without any counselling on the drug's appropriateness or use. International regulations require drugs to be declared at the post office to which they are sent, but some companies dispatch packages unmarked, and in most countries only a few of them are checked by customs authorities. The WHO's drug safety director, Martign ten Ham, said that his office had recently caught four companies selling prescription drugs on the Internet without providing detailed information; among them were anti-acne drugs that could cause birth defects, toxic chemotherapy drugs, and "morning after" pills. Dr ten Ham said that the quality assurance of drugs sold over the Internet was not guaranteed and that some of the medicines could be ineffective counterfeit versions that patients are tricked into believing are genuine. Judy Siegel-Itzkovich
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