A 20-year-old woman was arrested yesterday for the suspected illegal sale of a slimming product called “Secrate SRIM&FERM”.
Do you think the manufacturers meant “secret”, or “secrete”? “Socrates,” maybe?
The department of health first got wind of the product’s sale when a woman was admitted to hospital with hypokalemia (low potassium levels).
According to the US’ National Institutes of Health, using too many laxatives or diuretic medicines are common causes of hypokalemia.
The patient revealed she had a history of taking “Secrate SRIM&FERM”, which government tests later showed to contain Part I poisons dipyrone, diclofenac, and lignocaine, as well as banned chemical phenolphthalein.
While dipyrone and diclofenac are anti-inflammatory drugs, lignocaine is used as a local anesthetic. Phenolphthalein was once used to treat constipation… until it was banned in Hong Kong because of its cancer-causing effects. Yikes.
The illegal sale of Part I poisons and unregistered pharmaceutical are crimes punishable by a HKD$100,000 and two years’ imprisonment.
Please stop using “Secrate SRIM&FERM”, or any pharmaceuticals with misspelled names that you bought off the internet.
Any such drugs can be disposed of at the department of health’s drug office at room 1856, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, during office hours for disposal.
