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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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