expired aspirin and other ordinary over-the-counter medications that were going to be junked. They pay twenty cents on the bottle, and the wholesalers are happy to get it. The criminals then change the dates on the boxes and resell them to drugstores.
Crooks root through Dumpsters outside of hospitals and look for syringe bottles that have been discarded in hazardous materials bags. The thieves take them, refill them with sugar water, and sell them as medicine. The only way to tell is to turn the bottle over and look for two pinholes. A fraudulent one has to have a second pinhole in it made by the criminal when he inserted a needle to refill it.
DIFFICULT TO DIGEST
It's not just drugs that can cause harm. So can foods and food supplements, drinks, vitamins, literally anything that you digest. A number of individuals were caught in 1999 for selling expired baby formula and nutritional products for invalids. They had obtained them under the false pretense that the products would be used for animal food. In 1995, two California men intended to distribute a half million cans of counterfeit Similac baby formula. Fortunately, the illegal operation was busted before most of the products were distributed, and there were only a few reports of illnesses. But there have been other instances where counterfeit formula has caused rashes and seizures. In Mexico, fake Tequila and other alcoholic beverages have caused illness and some deaths. "Collectors" pay for empty bottles outside stadiums, and then refill them with other liquids and pass them off as the real thing.
Anything you apply to your skin, if it's counterfeit, puts you at risk. A phony version of a popular shampoo was found to contain bacteria that could cause infections. Another counterfeit brand has led to hair loss. Counterfeit cosmetics have been found to contain residue of industrial solvents and carcinogens. When you use them, you can suffer severe allergic reactions.
Counterfeit pesticides and fertilizers have decimated crops in developing countries, contributing to famine and death. A counterfeit chemical fungicide containing chalk was said to have been responsible for destroying two-thirds of the coffee crop in Kenya and Zaire. In Kenya, criminals were caught with counterfeit "Super Doom" insecticide. They diluted the weed product with kerosene and other ingredients and resold it, considerably diminishing its effectiveness.
NUTS AND BOLTS - AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN
Counterfeiters are without scruples. They'll put anyone at risk for profit (law enforcement agents once came across a shipment of counterfeit Cabbage Patch dolls that had been doused with kerosene to keep rats away while they were transported from overseas). Industrial valves have a long life cycle and are easy to recondition, and so they've been targets of counterfeiters for years. The FDA recalled $7 million of intra-aortic pumps used during open-heart surgery, after it discovered malfunctioning counterfeit parts in the devices. Sometimes, genuine used valves are improperly reconditioned so they can be resold as new. In one case, graphite seals that made the valves fire-safe were removed and not replaced.
Counterfeit nuts and bolts caused parts of a building to collapse during an earthquake. In the early 1980s, a contractor building a Saturn plant in Tennessee died because a counterfeit bolt snapped. It looked like the real thing but was made of cheap metal, not the specified high-quality carbon steel. In 1992, a fire erupted on a Navy destroyer, killing two sailors, after a counterfeit bolt connecting a steam line broke in the ship's engine room. One of the problems with small parts is that to determine if a bolt is inferior, you need to subject it to metallurgical tests, and analyzing a simple 40-cent bolt can cost two hundred dollars.
Every type of car and machine part is counterfeited - brakes, horns, oil filters, radiators, suspensions. Counterfeit brakes were found in Nigeria that were made from compressed grass that burst into flames when they were tested. In 1991, a woman and her child were killed in an auto accident in the United States that was precipitated by a counterfeit brake pad. The pad was made out of wood chips. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that 210,000 American workers could be added to the work rolls if the parts were made legally.
THE FRIGHTENING SKIES
Equally frightening is the number of counterfeit parts flooding the airline industry, a full 75 percent of which are used in critical applications. According to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), between 1973 and 1993 bogus parts played a role in at least 166 U.S.-based aircraft accidents or less