2024-07-29 10:16:36
(ANSA) – TRIESTE, JULY 29 – Over 15,000 single-use tea bags containing sibutramine, an appetite suppressant used to treat obesity and being overweight, were discovered and seized by officials from the Anti-Fraud Section of the Trieste Customs Office with the 2nd Group of the Guardia di Finanza of Trieste. The discovery occurred in recent days but the news was only released today.
The cargo had arrived in the Julian port on board a truck from Turkey and had been subjected to laboratory analyses which confirmed the illicit and dangerous practice with the identification of sibutramine.
Previous investigations by the military themselves and by ADM officials had already ascertained that pharmaceutical substances had been hidden inside edible products.
Guardia di Finanza and Adm recalled that in 2010 the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) had ordered a ban on the sale and use of all medicines based on sibutramine, endorsing an assessment by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which, following a review of safety data, had revealed the existence of a cardiovascular risk related to its use. The attention of the Ministry of Health had allowed the issuing of a warning at European level on the serious risks associated with the use of the substance. (ANSA).
2024-07-29 10:16:36