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OVER THE
COUNTER BARGAINS CAN KILL.
NEW YORK,
NY… March 5, 2002...Kessler International, the premier international forensic
accounting and investigative consulting firm, announced today that
their recent survey on the distribution of over the counter drugs in
retail stores showed that unsuspecting consumers are being presented
with incredible ‘deals’ on medication that has been sitting on
store shelves for months or years prior to the actual consumer
purchase, and has long since expired. An additional correlating survey conducted by Kessler
International on medication usage by low-income and elderly citizens
shows clearly that such demographic groups repeatedly use expired
medication, regardless of the possible consequences.
Kessler
International’s survey of 250 discount shops discovered that more
than 72% of these shops had over the counter medicines that had
expired on their shelves. Over
the counter medicines, by definition, are drugs that can be taken
without a prescription from a doctor and purchased directly from a
retailer. Consumers may
not realize the dangers that medicines past their expiration date
can present. Such drugs
can lose their potency and change in chemical composition to the
point where they become dangerous to ingest.
Over the counter medicines account for 40%
of annual medicine consumption, to the tune of $75 billion per year.
Consumers for over the counter drugs sold to discount stores
consist in large part of the low income and elderly people surveyed
by Kessler International. Often,
they cannot afford prescription medicines or health insurance.
Either way, the 300 low-income and elderly consumers showed
an overwhelming tendency to be mis-informed about the dangers of
using expired medicines of any sort.
19% of those surveyed have used over the counter medicines
knowing that they were expired, or they were willing to minister the
drugs to infants. 9 out
of 10 of these people also admitted to having expired antibiotics in
their home, and 38% percent of this group were saving the medicines
for a future date. An astonishing 9% of those surveyed admitted to exchanging
prescriptions with family and friends.
The survey results clearly show that over the counter and
prescription drug manufacturers need to be keenly aware of the path
that their products follow. For
additional information about Kessler International, and ways in
which we can safeguard the reputability of your product, visit our
website at www.investigation.com.
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