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第 38 课:New Survey Finds Counterfeit Products Cost Global Economy Billions 新调查发现假冒伪劣商品耗费全球经济几十亿-1

Buying a fake Gucci bag or a $25 Rolex watch won't kill anyone. But, buying counterfeit medicine can cause serious disability and even death as Robert Mallett, senior vice president of the pharmaceutical firm Pfizer explains. 正如瑞辉药物公司高级副会长罗伯特·马里特( Robert Mallett )说的,买一个伪造的古奇包或 $25 的劳力士手表不会杀死某个人,但买假药将导致严重的伤残甚至死亡。

He relates the story of a 30-year-old man, suffering from backache, who bought, what he thought was Zanex, an anxiety reducing compound and a pain killer called Ultra. 他提到一个患背部疼痛的 30 岁男人,买了一瓶自认为是用于减轻焦虑的 Zanex ,而实际上是名叫 Ultra 的止疼药。

Robert Mallett : He bought it over the Internet. He took them both one night and he woke up in the hospital three weeks later. 罗伯特·马里特:“他是在网上买的。一天晚上他吃了两粒,三周后才在医院醒来。

His Zanex was counterfeit. It contained four times the usual dose. It was combined with another medicine. It produced a heart attack, brain damage and sent him into a coma. 那个 Zanex 药是假冒的,剂量是平常的四倍,与另一种药物混合而成。该药致使他引发了心脏病,大脑受损,最终陷入了昏迷。”

The illicit nature of this trade makes it difficult to obtain exact figures, but estimates put counterfeits at more than 10 percent of the global market in medicines. And, the World Health Organization reports about 25 percent of the medicines consumed in developing countries are fake. 这一非法贸易的性质 , 使得我们难以得到确切数字 , 但人们估计冒牌货占领了世界 10% 以上的药品市场 . 世界卫生组织报道,发展中国家消费的药品中约 25% 是假冒药品。

The most commonly counterfeited medicines in poor countries are used to treat life-threatening conditions such as malaria , tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. 在贫穷国家最常被伪造的药品是用来治疗有生命危险的疾病 , 如疟疾、肺结核和艾滋病。

Mallett says this is akin to murder. 马里特说这和谋杀没什么两样。

Robert Mallett : More alarming than what we see today is what we foresee happening tomorrow. Some authorities expect counterfeiting to double in the next four years. That could mean one in every five patients will be using counterfeit drugs. 罗伯特·马里特:“比我们今天所看到的更为惊人的是我们明天要看到的。 当局预计在未来四年,假冒伪劣药品将翻倍, 这可能意味着五分之一的病人将使用伪造药品。”

But, counterfeit medicines are not the only products that can kill. 但是 , 假冒药品不是可以杀死人的唯一产品。

"This is a counterfeit fire extinguisher," Brian Monks is vice president of Anti-Counterfeiting Operations of the U.S.-based Underwriters Laboratories, which tests products for safety. “这是一个假冒灭火器。” 布赖恩·蒙克斯是美军保险实验室反冒牌行动的副会长,专门负责测试产品安全性。

Brian Monks : Can you imagine that you are in a house. You're in a fire. You go to use the fire extinguisher which will get your family out of the house and you don't get out because the fire extinguisher does not work. 布赖恩 · 蒙克斯:“假设你在一所着火的房子里, 你去拿灭火器灭火,以此让家人都出去。可是灭火器根本用不了。”

Monks says over 20 billion UL labels a year appear on products worldwide attesting to their safety. He calls the counterfeiting of products an economic crime. 蒙克斯说每年,全世界有超过 200 亿 UL 标签的产品生产出来,以证明其安全性。他称假冒产品就是经济犯罪。