Federal health officials uncovered $1,440,000 fake medical products in just three weeks of spot checks..And customs officials say they also intercepted shipments of fake pandemic masks from five countries..“Health Canada does not routinely determine and track the value of suspect counterfeit health products identified throughout the year,” Blacklock’s Reporter said cabinet wrote in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons..But in spot checks conducted between last March 3 and March 20 inspectors found fake health products in 1,724 of 2,984 shipments examined..“Suspected counterfeit or unlicensed health products at the border (were) worth an estimated street value of $1.44 million,” wrote staff..“A shipment can contain a variety of products with multiple containers of the same or different products included in the shipment.”.The Canadian Border Services Agency said it also confiscated fake “non-medical face masks with logos” shipped from China, Guatemala, Mexico, the Philippines and Vietnam. Total goods seized were 8,057 masks. The RCMP said it was unable to disclose the volume of counterfeit pandemic supplies it intercepted last year..A previous spot check in 2018 found of 4,545 medical shipments intercepted, a total 2,744 were unlicensed and 1,153 were counterfeit..“This is alarming,” New Democrat MP Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway) said in an interview..“The problem of counterfeit pharmaceuticals is real and serious, and I am alarmed at the high number entering Canada and our unacceptably low interception rates..Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia-Lambton, Ont.) said at the time: “If you do a week-long check and find 85 percent of products are inadmissible, isn’t that a wakeup call to start looking at other packages?.“The government now has enough data on this. We need to do more inspections, and more than once a year. They should start going after the people importing this.”.As many as 99 per cent of shipping containers that land at Canadian ports are never inspected, according to a 2019 audit. Federal agents typically check one to three percent of shipping containers. “This may seem low,” said the Audit Of The Commercial Program In The Marine Mode..More than 1,750,000 shipping containers land each year at ports in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montréal and Halifax..“The Border Services Agency faces considerable challenges in the commercial marine mode including a heavy reliance on third-party service providers,” wrote auditors..The report noted while the Agency had authority to fine shippers that fail to promptly submit containers for inspection, only sixty-six penalties were issued in three years. Fines averaged $2,000..“The Agency has not been proactive,” said the report..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.TWITTER: Twitter.com/nobby7694
