Federal border authorities inspecting imported goods at ports of entry have blocked more than half a million counterfeit or prohibited items that claimed to treat and prevent the coronavirus.
Between the beginning of the pandemic in March and May 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 83,500 test kits, 425,000 face masks, 2,261 anti-virus lanyards, 8,700 chloroquine tablets, and 3,000 herbal medicine tablets that did not meet Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency standards.
“We are detaining a significant amount of unapproved items that we’re working very closely with our partners with the Feds to get those items approved to our first-line responders in their middle of this pandemic,” Anthony Bucci, spokesman for CBP’s New York region, told the Washington Examiner on Friday.
CBP officers at the New York field office found coronavirus tests and face masks in shipments of cargo received at John F. Kennedy International Airport or the international mail facility in Jersey City, New Jersey. Most of it was sent from China, as well as Europe.
CBP checks imports to make sure they meet more than 400 federal laws and regulations. The process for reviewing suspicious coronavirus materials is different than for illicit drugs. The coronavirus-related products being seized are sometimes ordered by first responders, sometimes even federal contractors, who mistakenly purchase them from a less than credible website, Bucci said, making it urgent to intercept them. The medical items will be seized by CBP until FDA or other agencies can clear them as safe, then they will continue to their final destination, whereas marijuana or cocaine found in imported goods would be seized then destroyed.
“We’re not seizing it looking to destroy it and take down a criminal org. We’re detaining it and working with FDA,” said Bucci. The lanyards are destroyed because they could be “detrimental to humans,” he added.
FDA and other government health agencies respond to ports of entry to inspect items so that they can continue onto companies and agencies who have ordered them. In the case of the 425,000 face masks, they may be approved for one type of medical use but not specifically deemed by the FDA as efficient for healthcare workers treating coronavirus patients, Bucci said.
“While we seek to ensure access to critical medical products, it is imperative that we continue our efforts to find and prevent the sale and distribution of products that may be harmful to the public health. Americans can rest assured that we’re leveraging our experience investigating, examining, and reviewing medical products, both at the border and within domestic commerce, to help ensure that the critical resources reaching the front lines in the battle against COVID-19 are appropriate,” FDA Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs Judy McMeekin, said in a news release. The FDA did not respond to a request for comment.
