Counterfeiting and piracy harm society in many ways that are not easily understood. For example, counterfeit products are not tested to the same safety standards and can therefore be dangerous for consumers. Counterfeit pharmaceuticals in particular cause harm, directly, when made of dangerous ingredients or indirectly by containing no active ingredient therefore being ineffective at combating illness or disease.

This page is a special summary of cases that reveal where counterfeiting and piracy have been a risk to consumer health and safety. Each reference has been extracted directly from a story archived in the BASCAP Case Study Database. For further research, the full article can be found by clicking on the associated endnote.

Four killed, 54,000 poisoned by contaminated milk in China - China, 14 September 2008

• Milk products contaminated with Melamine, an industrial chemical, have poisoned over 54,000 children in China, state media reports. So far four children have died and more than 100 are seriously ill; 793

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Report finds 60% of medicines bought online are fake - 1 August 2008

• Three out of five medicines bought online are fake according to a new report from the European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines (EAASM); 790

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Fake airplane parts online - USA, 1 July 2008