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Illegal medicines: 740 abortion pills were seized in Ireland last year

Of the 619,213 dosage units seized, 36% were sedatives, 18% were erectile dysfunction medicines, and 16% were anabolic steroids.

THERE WAS A significant drop in the number of illegal medicines seized by Ireland’s medicine watchdog last year compared to the year previously.

The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) has said today that last year it seized 619,213 dosage units (including tablets, capsules and vials) of falsified and other illegal medicines in 2018, compared to 948,915 in 2017. 

Among the tablets seized were 740 abortion pills (711 contained misoprostol and 29 contained mifepristone).

This compared with 487 abortion pills in 2017, of which 449 contained misoprostol and 38 contained mifepristone.

A combination of those two substances can induce a miscarriage: not much can be inferred from the increase in seizures, as the number of seizures has fluctuated for the past 10 years.

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This could be due to more illegal medicines evading authorities some years, and more being caught the next year (you can see more detail on this in this previous report by TheJournal.ie).

The HPRA has reiterating its warning to the public of the dangers of sourcing prescription medicines online or from other illicit sources.

Other medicines seized during 2018 included sedatives (36%), erectile dysfunction medicines (18%) and anabolic steroids (16%).

The HPRA confirms that the supply of these products into and within Ireland was illegal and stresses that, while falsified medicines can be presented as legitimate, there are no guarantees around the safety, quality or effectiveness of prescription medicines bought outside of the regulated pharmacy setting or purchased via the internet.

Commenting on the enforcement figures for 2018, John Lynch, Director of Compliance at the HPRA, cautioned against the suggestion that the year on year decrease represented a significant shift in consumer behaviour.

“Analysis of the figures shows that there is a continuing and worrying trend of consumers in Ireland seeking to source illegal prescription medicines… over the past five year period more than 4.1 million units of illegal prescription medicines have been detained by the HPRA.

Every single one of these tablets, capsules and vials intercepted is important and is one less illegal medicine that could cause harm.
We cannot stress how dangerous it is to source prescription medicines from the unregulated market.

 The HPRA works in partnership with Revenue’s Customs Service and An Garda Síochána at a national level and with other regulatory and law enforcement agencies worldwide to combat the illegal manufacture, importation and distribution of medicines, medical devices, and cosmetics.

To inform members of the public about the dangers associated with buying prescription medicines online, the HPRA has published this advice leaflet.

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    Mute james Goodyear
    Favourite james Goodyear
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:32 AM

    Women don’t make good comediennes.

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    Mute Lester Jeffcoat
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:50 AM

    Says the over-thinking potato.

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    Mute Mjhint
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:01 AM

    No actually Christopher Hitchens said it & done an article in Vanity Fair about the fact that evolution may have made men funny as they have to be for the purpose of mating whereas women don’t require the same tactic. After several rebuttals by women including several successful female comedians it appears they only managed to confirm his hypothesis.

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    Mute Aoife Barry
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:13 AM

    James, you’re a gas man. Laughing my head off here at your witty joke!

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    Mute Beachmaster
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:26 AM

    Oh now!

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    Mute little jim
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:48 AM

    Boobies are not light entertainment, they have no need for cheap funbag jokes.

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    Mute Gavin Corrigan
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:34 PM

    Similar to drivers, good women comedians are a minority

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    Mute catkins407
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:36 AM

    Definitely” over thinking girl”. It’s a lot better than me. I struggle very much to read people and social situations so I end up being ” what inappropriate fecking thing did I say now ” woman. Lol

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    Mute Aoife Barry
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:24 AM

    Glad I’m not alone in that C! I think we all have situations where we overthink – and it can be such a pain. Often it doesn’t do anything positive for us either.

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    Mute little jim
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:45 AM

    Is overtalking a thing?

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    Mute Ronan Stokes
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    Oct 10th 2015, 11:14 AM

    Jo Brand is a brilliant comedian, doesn’t take any crap and knows how to deliver a good story. Similar dead pan style Jack Dee. Im not a fan of Sue Perkins style as I think its very one dimensional, for me it’s more of a “look how clever and witty I am”, as opposed to delivering something funny about life. Her style seems very approval seeking.

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    Mute Ruairi O'Hagan
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    Oct 10th 2015, 11:34 AM

    Great stuff Aoife! Looking forward to the next part!

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    Mute Aoife Barry
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    Oct 10th 2015, 11:41 AM

    Thanks so much R! :D

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    Mute dj
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:43 AM

    Go on,tell us a joke.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 11th 2015, 5:10 PM

    Enda and Joan are leaders of their parties in a government together, how’s that dj lol.

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    Mute Chauncey Gardiner
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    Oct 10th 2015, 12:23 PM

    Fair play to you Aoife! It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself.

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    Mute Richard Cheney
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    Oct 10th 2015, 1:06 PM

    Jim Jefferies,Doug Stanhope,George Carlin,Bill Hicks – all highly recommended

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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Oct 10th 2015, 5:12 PM

    Oh yes, I’ll add Louis CK.if you don’t mind. Doug Stanhope talking about the death of his mother is worth a watch…

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