MANILA - Calls for a Senate investigation against sellers of fake beauty, health, and wellness products come days after a health official filed a complaint before the National Bureau of Investigation against at least four products promising to cure diabetes and hypertension.

Countless cases of people getting duped by products that promise to improve their condition have strained the country.

Among the many victims of fake beauty products include 20-year-old student “Anna,” who was encouraged to buy an anti-acne kit for a price of P300.

But just after over a week of using the unknown product which she bought because of a “very good product endorser," Anna’s acne worsened.

Today, Anna refuses to mingle with friends the way she used to do and would hide her face with her long hair every time she sees people.

“Bukod po sa bumalik po siya (pimples) at lalong dumami, mahapdi po sa mukha... parang nakaka-insecue po ganun, para pong nakakahiyang humarap sa ibang tao,” Anna lamented.

Twenty-nine-year-old “Joseph” – not his real name – also got conscious of his pimples years ago.

Working as a social media consultant who meets people, Joseph bought an “organic” anti-acne product, but the outcome was more acne on his face.

“Kaya ko siya (product) kinonsider kasi ang claim din ng product apart from the acne solutions sya ay organic siya... sa work iniiwasan ko muna na magpakita, and kung may mga video conference, nagte-turn off ako ng camera noon, sinasabi ko na lang na mahina yung bandwith ng internet ko,” Joseph said.

PROBLEM WITH FAKE PRODUCTS

Health Special Adviser for Non-Communicable Diseases Tony Leachon, who last week filed a complaint against a group allegedly selling fake health and wellness products promising to cure incurable diabetes and hypertension, said Monday that countless untold stories of people getting duped to buy fake products continue to mount because no one is filing a case against unscrupulous traders.

He said people tend to believe the advertisements of those fake products that use the face of noted personalities like medical experts, actors and even journalists.

“Nakakatakot kung yung mga pasyente lumalapit. Ang unang-una pong reason, sila po ay itinigil yung isang gamot, at ininom yung gamot. Yung isang may diabetes, itinigil yung metformin na sinisiraan nung syndicate na ito, na-dialysis today. Napamahal pa. Yung isa naman, nasa ang liver dahil masama, toxic yun,” Leachon said.

“Hindi rin pala mahuhuli kung wala ka palang complaint formally. So, kung may lead na sila, hindi nila ngayon maakusa kasi walang nagko-complain. So, kailangan may mageklamo,” he pointed out.

To combat the non-stop flooding of fake products in the Philippine market, everybody should fight “infodemic (information epidemic)” or the proliferation of fake information, via a strong campaign for the dissemination of truthful and factual information, the health expert said.

Leachon said the public should also be empowered to differentiate fake products from real and safe ones.

• How to spot fake health ads on social media

RED FLAGS

Those being sold online especially medicines or health supplements or items with these so-called “red flags” according to Leachon, are fake products:

• The product is not on the accredited list of the Food and Drug Administration
• It offers “too good to be true” promises to cure incurable ailments like diabetes and hypertension
• It gives big promises like curing a serious ailment in two weeks
• The medicine can be bought online without a face-to-face check-up with a doctor
• It is supposedly for serious ailments but can be bought without a doctor’s prescription
• If a known physician is being used as a model or endorser of a product.

“Bawal yan sa aming Hippocratic Oath at Professional Regulation Commission na hindi kami pwedeng mag-advertise directly to the public lalo na ng therapeutic drugs. Ang ibig sabihin ... 'Yung mga sakit talaga that would entail doctor-patient relationship,” Leachon stressed.

FIGHTING FAKE PRODUCTS

As part of the advocacy to protect the public against the ill effects of fake products, Leachon is set to discuss with Health Secretary Ted Herbosa the step to tap FDA in guiding drugstores from carrying questionable products that have already penetrated the mainstream market.

“I-inform yung mga botika na naka-red flag ito parang si (Bureau) Immigration na may mga picture na yung mga produktong yun. Pag hindi, hindi makakapag-deliver din online kasi naka-red flag yun. Kung hindi paparusahan ng FDA,” Leachon said.

“Babawalan din yung delivery network kung sinuman yung nago-online service na batas ito, na you cannot deliver these products here because bawal yan, unregistered sa FDA. Pangalawa, bawal din kasi walang prescription,” he added.

The DOH will also communicate with the Department of Trade and Industry for the same purpose, Leachon said.

Meantime, even the civil society group “Kilusan Kontra COVID” led by lawyer Dot Gancayco, is now working to transform their team to one that will promote information and education about non-communicable diseases.

Their group will also empower the public about their concerns about fake products, Gancayco said. She urged the public to also do their share in combatting this problem.

“Complain, go to the police. Go to the DTI, go to the NBI, kasi the NBI has the department that can take a look at these fake accounts. And, sa investigation nila, it can lead you to whose leading to those fake promos,” said Gancayco, an intellectual property rights expert.

For celebrities who are illegally being used as so-called product endorsers, Gancayco stressed they should also give a huge boost to the fight against fake products.

“All the other celebrity victims have to file a complaint. They should go to the courts, to the police or to the NBI. Huwag nilang papabayaan. Kasi nga, kaya ito paulit-ulit, kaya ito nagpo-proliferate, kasi wala namang kumakalaban sa kanila,” she stressed.

In the Senate, Senator Jinggoy Estrada’s filed Senate Resolution 666 which seeks to investigate the proliferation of fake products in the country, still awaits its date in the Committee of Health.

But for Leachon and Gancayco’s group, the Senate investigation, followed by the crafting of a strong law to address it, must happen sooner than later.

“ASAP (as soon as possible) 'to ... Kasi ang daming apektado eh. Kung hindi iko-correct ito, paano uusad to ngayon? Hindi lang sa kalusugan to ha? Pati sa kalakal pwedeng i-fake,” Leachon stressed.

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