Customs And Border Patrol Seize What Claim To Be Test Kits For COVID-19, Other Viruses At O'Hare
CHICAGO (CBS) -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at O'Hare International Airport earlier this week seized packages containing prohibited medical drug kits from the United Kingdom.
On Wednesday, CBP officers intercepted shipments containing "test kits" for a variety of viruses that claimed to include COVID-19.
Not all of the coronavirus tests were in each parcel, and most of the kits usually had just one COVID-19 test kit within groups of other kits that purported to test for "meningitis, IVF, MRSA, onion, apple, salmonella and others."
The shipment was handed over to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for analysis the CBP said.
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act forbids the introduction of any misbranded drug product.
"CBP personnel have done a phenomenal job with intercepting these items," Lesley Lukens, Chief Supervisory Officer, International Mail Facility, said in a news release. "Each seizure provides additional insight into past, current and future smuggling trends to assist CBP with intercepting additional parcels containing similar items that are harmful to our personal health and national security."
The CBP said authorized testing for COVID-19 and other viruses and diseases is conducted in verified state and local public health laboratories across the U.S., and the American public should be aware of counterfeit tests.
