Gaza.

Israel complains about expired medicine

Having unloaded the aid from the Freedom Flotilla, the IDF spokesperson decided to make public that some (not all, some!) of the aid medicine had expired.  This is a clear attempt to frame the humanitarian effort as either stupid or - worse - an attempt to use expired medicines as a cover for supporting terrorism.  

Israel appears to be assuming that the provision of expired medicine was a mistake on behalf of the charities involved, but this is not necessarily the case. There are a number of issues here which place the donation of expired medicines into their proper context.

Firstly, this was a charity effort, and charities rely not upon plumbing the unfathomable depths of government coffers, but on the conscience of a collective of individuals who have limited resources.  Purchasing vast quantities of band new medicines is not cheap and so the old saying “beggers can’t be choosers” seems to apply here.  It is clear that the aid was well meaning. 

Secondly, a quick search on the net reveals that opinion is split about the safety and efficacy of expired medicines.  Whilst World Health Organization guidelines advise that donated medicines should have a year left before expiry, it is clear that WHO guidelines permit expired drugs to be donated if the receiving health facility is aware of the expiry date and chooses to receive the drugs anyway.

Thirdly, some medical professionals argue that some drugs retain efficacy long past their expiration date:-

The Medical Letter, a respected source of independent information about drugs, stated in a 2002 article that certain medicines, stored in high humidity and other bad conditions, stayed good to use for 1 1/2 to nine years after their expiration dates.”For instance, Symmetrel (amantadine) and Flumadine (rimantidine), anti-viral drugs used to prevent and treat influenza, withstood 160-degree temperatures and were good after the equivalent of 25 years of ordinary storage,” the reports states. “Many drugs stored under reasonable conditions retain 90 percent of their potency for at least five years after the expiration date on the label, and sometimes much longer.” No one knows for sure if expired medications are safe.

and..

In 2000, Laurie P. Cohen in an article for the Wall Street Journal reported that between 1993 and 1998, the military had the FDA test more than 100 drugs –- both prescription and over-the-counter –- finding that 90% of these medications were safe and effective far past their original expiration date. In some cases, eight to fifteen years beyond their expiration dates. By 2008, the number of tested medications was up to 312.

From the pictures lovingly provided by the IDF (link above), we see that the drugs they appear to be talking about are still boxed and have not been opened, so appear to be primes candidates for drugs that will still be effective after the passing of the expiry date.

Fourthly, we see that:-

Many companies see donating expired drugs as a great way to help out, generate some positive publicity, and take a tax write-off by donating goods they would not be able to sell.

Whilst in some situations and in some countries it would not be legal to use expired drugs in a government health facility, we suspect that - after suffering years of blockade which denies citizens of Gaza vital medicines - the medical professionals in Gaza will be prepared to take the calculated risk that paracetamol which is technically expired will have more good effects than bad on its population.

So sending expired drugs in itself is not stupid or immoral or even an cloak or support for terrorist activities.  However, the duplicitous double standards being applied by Israel on this issue though is quite staggering.  There are any number of cases where residents of Gaza have died because Israeli forces have refused to allow medical treatment. And most recently this is alleged to have happened on board the Mavi Marmara whilst Israeli forces deliberately withheld medical treatment from the casualties of their assault.