S Africa's street vendors offer Rx drugs

A range of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, as well as vitamins and nutritional supplements, are being sold by street peddlers in South  Africa, posing a threat to the public, according to the Medicines  Control Council. Mandisa Hela, the agency's Registrar, told the local  newspaper Cape Argus that, in addition to concerns about the provenance  of many of the agents, their storage contravenes the Medicines and  Related Substances Act, which requires that medicines are stored in a  temperature-controlled environment.

Corenza C, a locally-distributed cold and influenza remedy which is a  pharmacy-only drug under South African law, is one of the products that  the Argus' reporters found being sold openly in Cape Town.

Among the hazards facing consumers are drugs kept in direct sunlight or  at temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius. The fact that the agents are  sold at prices far below their normal retail price leads some observers  to fear that the medicines are counterfeits, with India named as a  likely source.