Amid growing concerns over the pharmaceutical supply chain, regulators sternly warned the Dollar Tree (DLTR), which runs a vast network of stores serving mostly low-income communities, for selling over-the-counter medicines made by companies that failed to ensure the drugs were safely manufactured and tested.
In a Nov. 6 warning letter, the Food and Drug Administration noted the retailer purchased medicines from foreign companies that failed to follow manufacturing standards and displayed a pattern of serious violations. These included a failure to test raw materials and finished products, and falsifying test results and releasing sub-potent drugs to the U.S. market. One company had rodent feces throughout its facility, according to the letter, which was posted on the FDA website Thursday.
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Beware of these OTC supplements and drugs that seem like a bargain at Dollar-Tree,but can be harmful. Often produced with inferior ingredients,toxic fillers,unknown or expired ingredients and produced under very unsanitary conditions.I recently saw bottles of “dick-pills” that were libido-enhancers for men,made in China,in Dollar-Tree.The ingredients listed contained “Ephedra”,an herb now banned in the U.S.,and linked to heart failure.So,please,….Beware and be prudent what you buy in there !
This article is biased: it does not mention that most pharmaceuticals import the active ingredients for their brand name products in China, India and many more slave labor countries. It does not say that these same pharmaceuticals have deferred production to improve costs, increase the value of their stocks and evade taxes here in the USA. It does not say that the actual manufacturing costs of a huge number of medications are nil compared to what they sell them for. Consider HIV and cancer drugs, they cost cents but they are charged thousands. I do believe in strict manufacturing controls if applied to all pharmaceutical companies, it is common practice that big companies subcontract the production to third parties that produce the same product with different packages, and if you actually test the dispersion, absortion and the pharmacodynamics of the same products sold with different generic names, the results will alarm you. I am glad that the FDA exerts its policing, and makes their results known to the population, but it should be done across the board, not just what is sold in Dollar Tree stores that serve the lowest income people. Have they tested Walgreen’s, Duane Reed etc., among many other pharmacy chains that sell these same products also manufactured by third parties with drugs imported from those same countries?
It’s really very simple : you get what you pay for. So being selective in what and where you buy what you need is important, and buying drugs from a low-ball store is very risky. Stick to cards and gift-bags. And indeed the FDA should be after Dollar-Tree and others breaking import laws.
Yet the FDA approved Zantac for sale in the USA. Just be educated.
Buyers beware of Chinese goods. Sometimes you can find American products in dollar tree but still beware.
Why did they pick such an awful looking Dollar Tree for the article? Most DT stores are nice on the outside.
You have to use common sense when buying products at discount stores!
I’ve been wondering more and more about all vendors that supply Dollar Tree. Generally, if something seems to good to be true, it is. Dollar Tree sells a lot of great items — but when you think about it, there are so many items for which it’s incredibly hard to figure out any way that they can sell them for a dollar unless incredible shortcuts are being taken — like child labor and who knows what that consumers don’t want to think about — apparently ingredient shortcuts for drugs.
I read an article not too long ago about what not to buy at the Dollar Tree, because the items don’t meet our standards, such as extension cords which short out easily. I limit what I buy there to arts and craft and seasonal items.