SPURIOUS DRUGS

About: 

• Meaning: Under the Drugs and Cosmetics (Amendment) Act 2008, any drug is deemed to be spurious or adulterated when its use for the treatment or prevention of any disease is likely to cause his death or is likely to cause such harm on his body. 
  
  
• Findings of the 54th Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers: 
  • India has been able to decide only 35 cases of the 606 prosecutions launched against the manufacture, sale and distribution of spurious drugs from 2015 to 2018. 
    
    
  • 593 samples were declared spurious or adulterated, while a total of 2,33,906 drug samples were tested during the three-year period. Considering the size of the country, this sample size is not adequate to measure the actual problem. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Recommendations by the Parliamentary Committee: 
  • Special courts should be opened in all states/UTs for time-bound decisions on prosecutions launched against manufacture, sale and distribution of spurious and non-standard quality drugs. 
    
    
  • Government should increase the number of samples of drugs to be tested so as to instill fear in those who indulges in sale/distribution of spurious/non-standard quality drugs.