InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
\MANILA, Philippines –Senator Manny Villar on Thursday urged government agencies to be on the lookout for the possible smuggling of “dead baby pills” from China, reportedly intercepted in South Korea recently.
“We are calling the attention of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the Department of Health and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to be on guard on these products. We should not let these things enter our country,” Villar said at the hearing of the Senate economic and commerce committee on proposed amendments on the Cheaper Medicine Act.
The online news site The Nation (http://www.thenationonlineng.net) had said that thousands of pills filled with powdered human flesh were discovered by customs officials in South Korea, Daily Mail reported recently. The site said the capsules are in demand because they are viewed as a medicinal ‘cure-all’ and a libido booster.
The grim trade, according to The Nation, is being run from China where corrupt medical staff are said to be tipping off medical companies when babies are aborted or delivered still-born.
The tiny corpses are then bought, stored in household refrigerators in the homes of syndicate members, and later taken to clinics that use medical drying microwaves. Once the skin is tinder dry, it is ground into powder and then processed into capsules along with herbs, to disguise the true ingredients from health investigators and customs officers.
The discoveries since last August have shocked even hardened customs agents (in South Korea) who have pledged to strengthen inspections, the site added. Health officials in Korea are alarmed because of the presence of “super bacteria” in the flesh of the deceased.
Chinese officials are reportedly aware of the trade and have tried to stop the capsules being exported, but thousands of packets of them have been smuggled to South Korea. Villar asked Dr. Suzette Lazo, director of the Bureau of Food and Drugs if the news is true, and what is the basis for the claim about the pills’ medicinal properties.
“Some people unfortunately, probably believe in it. There’s no scientific evidence that it works,” Lazo told the committee. Lazo also assured Villar that there were no reports on attempts to smuggle the pills into the country, and the agency is on the lookout on these matters.
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