Defective, Unapproved PPE and COVID-19 Meds Seized at East Coast Ports

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers assigned to east coast ports of entry seized multiple shipments of defective and unapproved PPE and COVID-19 medications. The shipments came to the U.S. in mid-May from China, Hong Kong, Israel, Nigeria, UAE, and the United Kingdom.

CBP officers assigned to a Philadelphia port of entry on May 15 inspected a shipment from Israel and found 10 boxes of respirator masks that appeared to be of poor quality. Officials said the masks were made in China, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

The officers consulted with inspectors from the FDA who determined the 10,000 respirator masks to be in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act, officials reported. The manufacturer is also not registered with the U.S. and did not have an Emergency Use Authorization to import KN-95 masks.

CBP officers assigned to other ports of entry all across the Baltimore Field Office area of responsibility found other shipments of counterfeit and unapproved Coronavirus PPE and medicines. The ports included Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, and the Ports of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and Wilmington, Delaware.

The officers teamed up with FDA inspectors and carried out 12 seizures after May 16, officials stated. The seizures included:

• 25 unapproved and counterfeit COVID-19 test kits;
• 10 other counterfeit N95 respirator masks;
• more than 2,300 Lianhua Qingwen Jiaonang capsules;
• more than 700 additional tablets, pills, capsules, and sachets of unapproved medicines, including Hydroxychloroquine, Oseltamivir, Zithromax, Panadol, and unknown medicines;
• nearly 4,000 doses of Huoxiang Zhengqi dripping pills, an unproven herbal cold remedy; and
• nine packages of Virus Shut Out lanyards.

“These products are not on the current Emergency Use Authorization List nor are the manufacturers on the list of firms who have provided compliance notification to the FDA,” CBP officials said in a written statement. “As such, the products are inadmissible to the United States for violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.”

“Predatory scammers continue to prey on consumer fear by peddling these counterfeit or unapproved and potentially dangerous products as legitimate COVID-19 protective equipment or medicines,” said Casey Durst, CBP’s Director of Field Operations in Baltimore. “Customs and Border Protection officers will continue to work with our consumer safety partners to identify and seize products that could potentially harm American consumers.”

The seized products were reportedly destined to Florida, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.