Posted on 10/31/2023 9:52:36 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a dire warning to customers NOT to purchase more than two dozen eye drop products being sold at some of the nation’s most prominent retailers. While this is undoubtedly critical public information, this new revelation should also raise some serious questions about the FDA itself.
As ABC News reported Monday, the FDA in a press release Friday revealed that the eye drop products were manufactured in a facility with “insanitary conditions” and carry a “potential risk of eye infections that could result in partial vision loss or blindness.”
These products are intended to be sterile. Ophthalmic drug products pose a potential heightened risk of harm to users because drugs applied to the eyes bypass some of the body’s natural defenses. FDA recommended the manufacturer of these products recall all lots on October 25, 2023, after agency investigators found insanitary conditions in the manufacturing facility and positive bacterial test results from environmental sampling of critical drug production areas in the facility.
The location of this facility is unknown at the present time. The FDA did not even specify if the plant’s location was in America
According to the FDA, the impacted products are marketed under the brands CVS Health, Leader (Cardinal Health), Rugby (Cardinal Health), Rite Aid, Target Up&Up, and Velocity Pharma. The FDA shared a full list of the 26 products on its website.
Anyone who purchased these products from these locations are recommended to “immediately stop using” them and dispose of them properly. This includes either dropping off the product at a drug take-back site or following the FDA’s steps to dispose of the product in the trash according to ABC News.
The FDA says they have yet to receive reports of eye infections caused by the products, but is urging health care professionals and patients to report any “adverse events or quality problems.”
Symptoms of an eye infection include, “yellow, green, or clear discharge from the eye, eye pain or discomfort, redness of the eye or eyelid, feeling of something in your eye (foreign body sensation), increased sensitivity to light, and blurry vision according to the FDA.
Target, Rite Aid, and CVS have now reportedly begun the process of removing the eye drops from their stores.
Here is a video report on the story from ABC:
VIDEO AT LINK............
Anyone who purchased these products from these locations are recommended to “immediately stop using” them and dispose of them properly. This includes either dropping off the product at a drug take-back site or following the FDA’s steps to dispose of the product in the trash according to ABC News.
The FDA says they have yet to receive reports of eye infections caused by the products, but is urging health care professionals and patients to report any “adverse events or quality problems.”
Symptoms of an eye infection include, “yellow, green, or clear discharge from the eye, eye pain or discomfort, redness of the eye or eyelid, feeling of something in your eye (foreign body sensation), increased sensitivity to light, and blurry vision according to the FDA.
Target, Rite Aid, and CVS have now reportedly begun the process of removing the eye drops from their stores.
Here is a video report on the story from ABC:
The CDC collaborated with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and state and local health departments to investigate the multistate outbreak. They told clinicians and patients stop using and discard EzriCare Artificial Tears and two additional products made by the same manufacturer, Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Tears, and Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Ointment.
Global Pharma Healthcare also supposedly voluntarily recalled these same products according to the FDA.
In August, though, the FDA issued another warning to the American public that Artificial Tears products should not be used, including off-label use in animals. This was prompted by the New Jersey Department of Health issuing a Health Alert Network message External Link Disclaimer calling for animal caretakers to immediately discontinue using EzriCare Artificial Tears, Delsam Pharma Artificial Tears, and Delsam Pharma Artificial Ointment on animal patients.
Why was this warning necessary if these three products had been recalled months ago? Now we have lubricant eye drops AGAIN posing a potential grave danger to the public.
Worse, the FDA now REFUSES to name the manufacturer responsible for these 26 products they are warning the public about. Is this because Global Pharma Healthcare is up to their old tricks again and the FDA is worried about a potential scandal breaking out?
What is the agency hiding from the public?
I would not be surprised.
I would not be surprised.
Self-medicating when you live in a country whose government is hosting millions of enemy combatants not wearing uniforms is crazy. The only time anything gets put into my eyes is when I’m at the eye doctor’s office. What are people thinking anyway.
When I’m buying eye drops for my glaucoma (latanoprost), I only use what is prescribed by my doctor and obtained through the VA pharmacy.
I would not rely on OTC eye drops except as a temporary back up.
Trust the SCIENCE™! *PING*
Thanks, RedBadger
“The location of this facility is unknown at the present time. The FDA did not even specify if the plant’s location was in America”
Tells you what side they are on.
The FDA, another government agency that is essentially worthless.
In other words, leave them there for the looters to take.
-PJ
Likely Chinah…
The last dozen times, the drops came from China. Bet it’s the case here, too. Makes getting drops I use to prevent styes a real pain.
I’ve been involved in FDA audits.
All I will say is: they follow very hide-bound and often ridiculous rules and their auditors are hardly experts in the products and facilities they are auditing. They make a lot of mistakes too.
I would discount FDA comments and results to ZERO until I had a chance to independently view the plant and results in question.
Add in a hyperactive, leftist, statist media, and such reports are nearly useless - EXCEPT that the FDA and Fed.gov have the power to destroy anyone and anything in their path.
There’ve been ongoing contamination problems with imported over-the-counter eyedrops. Earlier this year it was products imported from India. My sister contracted a terrible, persistent infection and has lost all sight in one eye after using anti-redness eyedrops. Others have been completely blinded and a few have had to have one or both eyeballs surgically removed.
Why are we assuming that Deep State is telling the truth about the eye drops being responsible...?
I wonder how many people were affected before they had to release this info.
If you have dry eyes, your doctor is likely to recommend an OTC lubricating eye drop, although they’re going to be talking in brand names, not the generics like this list appears to be. Kind of like telling you to take Tylenol where you might go buy a generic acetaminophen.
I do sometimes buy some Equate products from Walmart but have never bought any eyedrops and certainly won’t now. Didn’t try to check the ingredients of that one to see if it would be considered the equivalent of any I’ve heard recommended.
The location and ingredients will be released in 75 years and in the meantime they will be granted lawsuit immunity.
I was only using “natural tears” formula eye drops even before this announcement, but for some reason that type of product has been disappearing from store shelves over the last few years. It seems like they are trying to force you to use one of these chemical concoctions instead.
I have VA prescribed eye drops. Avkare. Made in KY. However, they contain Carboxymethylcellulose ).5%. Same as some of recalled eye drops above. Guess I better contact them...
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