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Heavy consumption of diet soda can damage teeth as badly as methamphetamine or crack cocaine, a new study contends.More >> Heavy consumption of diet soda can damage teeth as badly as methamphetamine or crack cocaine, a new study contends.More >> Teen birth rates in the United States are dropping sharply, especially among Hispanic teens, according to a new government report.More >> Teen birth rates in the United States are dropping sharply, especially among Hispanic teens, according to a new government report.More >> Kids who eat fast food at least twice a week are 50 percent less likely to use calorie and nutritional information than kids who eat fast food less often.More >> Kids who eat fast food at least twice a week are 50 percent less likely to use calorie and nutritional information than kids who eat fast food less often.More >> The American Cancer Society, which is celebrating on Wednesday a century of fighting a disease once viewed as a death sentence, is making a pledge to put itself out of business.More >> The American Cancer Society, which is celebrating on Wednesday a century of fighting a disease once viewed as a death sentence, is making a pledge to put itself out of business.More >> In the aftermath of this week's deadly tornado, many people in Oklahoma are not only struggling to care for children and relatives, but also their pets.More >> In the aftermath of this week's deadly tornado, many people in Oklahoma are not only struggling to care for children and relatives, but also their pets.More >>
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Teen birth rates in the United States are dropping sharply, especially among Hispanic teens, according to a new government report.More >> Teen birth rates in the United States are dropping sharply, especially among Hispanic teens, according to a new government report.More >> The overall health of Americans isn't improving much, with about six in 10 people either overweight or obese and large numbers engaging in unhealthy behaviors like smoking, heavy drinking or not exercising.More >> The overall health of Americans isn't improving much, with about six in 10 people either overweight or obese and large numbers engaging in unhealthy behaviors like smoking, heavy drinking or not exercising.More >> When a classmate commits suicide, teens are more likely to consider or attempt suicide themselves, according to a new study. More >> When a classmate commits suicide, teens are more likely to consider or attempt suicide themselves, according to a new study. More >> Pregnant women with specific alterations in two genes may be at increased risk of suffering depression after giving birth, a small new study suggests.More >> Pregnant women with specific alterations in two genes may be at increased risk of suffering depression after giving birth, a small new study suggests.More >> Although spring arrived late this year in parts of the United States, the summer allergy season will still be strong, according to a sinus expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.More >> Although spring arrived late this year in parts of the United States, the summer allergy season will still be strong, according to a sinus expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.More >>
An overseas Internet site is shipping counterfeit versions of a popular Johnson & Johnson birth control patch, versions that won't provide any protection against pregnancy, federal health officials warned Wednesday.
Do not use Ortho Evra patches – or any other drugs – ordered from the Web site www.rxpharmacy.ws the Food and Drug Administration warned.
While the contraceptive patch is the only drug so far proved a fake from that site, the FDA said consumers should consider its other products suspect, too. Contact a health provider immediately if you've used them, the FDA advised.
That Web site is the only known source of the counterfeit patches, said the FDA, which is investigating the fraud's source.
The site appeared to have shut down by Wednesday, but the FDA couldn't say how long it had been operating or how many U.S. women might have ordered the patches. It has no reports of pregnancies linked to them.
The fake birth control was shipped from India, and the Web site apparently was operated by an entity called American Style Products of New Delhi.
The Web site claimed to be offering J&J's FDA-approved patches, complete with pictures of the real thing, said FDA Associate Commissioner John Taylor.
A customer sparked the FDA's investigation when she complained to J&J that she didn't get what she ordered, Taylor said. Instead of the official patch, with its special sealed packaging and company label, she received a plastic bag full of patches with no label or other identifying information.
Testing showed the patches contained no contraceptive ingredient.
In addition to patches ordered from the one Web site FDA named, the agency urged women not to use Ortho Evra patches from other sites if they seem suspect – for example, lacking a label that bears a lot number and expiration date. The fake patch is brown and made of a woven material.
"It underscores the message that if it looks untoward, that you need to report it," Taylor said.
The real Ortho Evra patch is a thin beige film that comes sealed in a white pouch with a J&J label containing a lot number and expiration date. The pouch is packaged inside a green and white box with usage instructions.
Counterfeit drugs are a growing problem. While the biggest fake-drug case to date – more than 150,000 bottles of the cholesterol medicine Lipitor – involved regular drugstores, the FDA says Internet-sold drugs are more likely to be fraudulent.
Internet buying of prescription drugs is on the rise as more Americans hunt for cheaper medicines overseas.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
