Posted April. 10, 2009 07:29,
The Korea Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday a ban on the sale of 1,122 medical products suspected of being contaminated with asbestos and produced by 120 pharmaceutical companies.
The watchdog will give a 30-day long grade period to 11 irreplaceable drugs but the ban is in effect for the remaining 1,111 items.
The agency and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service agreed that the banned products should not be covered by insurance to prevent doctors from prescribing banned drugs. The measure took effect yesterday.
Banned drugs include those made by Koreas largest medical companies including Dong-A Pharmaceutical, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Yuhan Medica, Green Cross, Choongwae Pharma Corp., CJ Cheiljedang Corp. and Ilyang Pharmaceutical.
The administration made the decision after talks with health organizations such as the Journal of Toxicology and Public Health, the Journal of Environmental Mutagen and Carcinogens, and the Korean Medical Association, and got advice from the National Pharmacists Commission.
The watchdog`s chief Yun Yeo-pyo said, Experts concluded that a small portion of asbestos contained in medical products makes little impact. But we decided to ban the sale of relevant drugs since we believe it is inappropriate to let people eat any toxic chemicals.
The list of medical products subject to the ban and recall can be found at www.kfda.go.kr.