Strasbourg, 07/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - Adopting a resolution in Strasbourg on 7 September from six political groups, the European Parliament called on the European Union to take measures to combat the scourge of counterfeit medicines in the EU. It also wants the EU to play a key role in promoting a global convention to ensure legislation is introduced in every country to make the counterfeiting of medicine a crime, along with the possession and distribution of counterfeit medicine.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), fake medicine accounts for some 10% of the global market. Most are genuine copies of varying quality but there are also, more importantly, a number of more dangerous products which do not contain any substances connected with the disease they are supposed to treat, or which contain toxins. Such products are found everywhere round the world, mostly in poor countries. Up to 70% of malaria tablets sold in Cameroon are counterfeit, for example, and the WHO says that some 200,000 of the one million people who die of malaria each year do so because of badly taken medicine or fake medicine. Around 25% of medicines available in developing countries are estimated to be fake, rising to around 50% in countries like Pakistan and Nigeria.