The issues surrounding fake lifestyle pills

We are living in an age where looking good is the be-all and end-all for many and this means that it is becoming easier to take advantage of people's weaknesses in ways that even a personal injury solicitor may not be able to help.

It could not have gone unnoticed that living in the UK today is all about going to the gym and being a certain weight, wearing the right clothes, having the right hairstyle, driving the right car and doing as would be done by all those celebrities on the TV and in the press.

We have gone lifestyle crazy and are more likely to get more excited about achieving either David or Victoria Beckham's latest look than be concerned about our general wellbeing. What is this all about? Some say it is about peer pressure others say it is just striving for something better but we are unsure what motivates this obsession with looking good and we are concerned that people are now getting duped because of it.

One story to recently make the headlines was that of the biggest counterfeit drugs bust in British history after UK customs made a chance interception of a parcel containing 12,000 counterfeit Viagra tablets addressed to a known gang member.

From here a large-scale investigation revealed that the fake pills were being manufactured in factories in India, China and Pakistan.

Following a search conducted by the Medicine and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency (MHRA) over £1.5 million worth of drugs were discovered, including fake Viagra and medication used to treat male baldness.

In a nine-month trail at Kingston Crown Court it was found that only around 90% of the regular active ingredient that is found in the authentic tablets was contained in the fakes which were then packaged with fake logos and patient information leaflets then supplied in the UK, US and Canada. It is unknown what these missing ingredients were substituted with.

Supplying counterfeit drugs presents many dangers including the prospect of them causing personal injury or illness through allergic reactions. As a result, three people were found guilty of conspiracy to supply millions of pounds worth of counterfeit drugs and a fourth man admitted to his involvement in the swindle.

Sarah Jarvis from the Royal College of General Practitioners revealed her concerns about people being supplied with counterfeit drugs, "It is highly likely that the people who buy these drugs online would not dream of going out into the back streets of India and eating off the floor their lunch from a street caf, and yet that's effectively what they're doing."

It is indeed a frightening prospect to think of the distances that some people will go to just to get lifestyle medicines. The problem is that the average man has far too much pride to go and see their GP if they are suffering from erectile dysfunction or hair loss and they rely on getting treatment in covert ways. This means that they are in a position to be grossly exploited by crooks in terms of paying over the odds and being supplied with dodgy alternatives.

Also, because most consumers are far too embarrassed to go through the proper channels to acquire lifestyle medicines such as these they are also less than likely to be the sort of people who would file a complaint with the appropriate authorities. Meaning, for the most part, the perpetrators of supplying counterfeit drugs get away with it and are sent laughing all the way to the bank.

The most irritating thing of all is that unless you make a compensation claim under the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority, a personal injury solicitor may not be able to help you.

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