Malay Mail : 5 December 2006 

WHEN it comes to health, never take a risk.

The price may be cheap but consumers should be aware that drugs offered via e-mail could pose other health problems.

“It’s dangerous,” said Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations president N. Marimuthu

“We are talking about quality and safety. To me it’s simple. If you need prescription drugs, go to a doctor, relate your problems and get your medicine,” he said.

Marimuthu reminded consumers to be careful and not to be easily influenced by what was offered.

“They must think that this is about life. They cannot simply buy the drugs they want from the Internet. These are the imported products which didn’t go through proper approvals from our Government.

“If something goes wrong, who do you go to?” he asked.

National Consumer Complaints Centre director Darshan Singh offered the same advice.

“Ignore it. I also received hundreds of such e-mail until I became fed up.

“But I will not buy them because we don’t even know the authenticity of the products.

“If anything happens ... if you got sick, you’re not protected since some of the products do not even have manufacturer’s name or logo. You can’t ask for compensation or replacement too,” he said.

Darshan said consumers should buy medicine from registered doctors or pharmacies.

“To me, prevention is better than cure. Why buy medicine from a source whom we can’t verify? It’s as simple as that,” he said.

Darshan said so far, he had not received complaints on the on-line medicine.

“We only received enquiries about the products,” he said.