From flour to starch, fake antibiotic drugs have them all

AHMEDABAD: Senior food and drugs department officials point out how low-potency antibiotic drugs were found to be diluted with paracetamol, and in other instances, the officials have found maize flour, factory starch and even unidentifiable white powders.

"The concentration of these powders varies in some of the brands we recently tested. Consuming such fake antibiotic drugs may lead to development of drug resistance in surviving bacteria," said a senior Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) official. Sources also claimed that compatible powders used for adulteration purposes include grain flour and sugars like glucose, lactose, maltose, and mannitol, and inorganic materials such as calcium carbonate. The country has recorded two major fake antibiotic hauls in the last eight years.

One being a Rs 20 lakh worth antibiotic seizure from Udyog Vihar in Haryana and two years ago in Chattisgarh where 15 women died after they underwent sterilisation surgeries and were administered ciprofloxacin antibiotic which contained a poisonous powder.tnn

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Dec 21, 2016

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/