CNN Investigation: Tens of Millions of Filthy, Used Medical Gloves Imported into the US

[Franklin Pierce]

(CNN) Trash bags stuffed full of used medical gloves, some visibly soiled, some even blood-stained, litter the floor of a warehouse on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Nearby is a plastic bowl, filled with blue dye and a few gloves. Thai officials say migrant laborers had been trying to make the gloves look new again, when Thai health authorities raided the facility in December.

There are many more warehouses just like it still in operation today in Thailand -- trying to cash in on the demand for medical-grade nitrile gloves, which exploded with the coronavirus pandemic. And they're boxing up millions of these sub-standard gloves for export to the United States, and countries around the world amid a global shortage that will take years to ease.

A months-long CNN investigation has found that tens of millions of counterfeit and second-hand nitrile gloves have reached the United States, according to import records and distributors who bought the gloves -- and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Criminal investigations are underway by the authorities in the US and Thailand.

Experts describe an industry riddled with fraud, with one of them -- Douglas Stein -- telling CNN that nitrile gloves are the "most dangerous commodity on Earth right now."

CNN Investigation: Tens of Millions of Filthy, Used Medical Gloves Imported Into the US - CNN

 

[Vol423]

(CNN) Trash bags stuffed full of used medical gloves, some visibly soiled, some even blood-stained, litter the floor of a warehouse on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Nearby is a plastic bowl, filled with blue dye and a few gloves. Thai officials say migrant laborers had been trying to make the gloves look new again, when Thai health authorities raided the facility in December.

There are many more warehouses just like it still in operation today in Thailand -- trying to cash in on the demand for medical-grade nitrile gloves, which exploded with the coronavirus pandemic. And they're boxing up millions of these sub-standard gloves for export to the United States, and countries around the world amid a global shortage that will take years to ease.

A months-long CNN investigation has found that tens of millions of counterfeit and second-hand nitrile gloves have reached the United States, according to import records and distributors who bought the gloves -- and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Criminal investigations are underway by the authorities in the US and Thailand.

Experts describe an industry riddled with fraud, with one of them -- Douglas Stein -- telling CNN that nitrile gloves are the "most dangerous commodity on Earth right now."

CNN Investigation: Tens of Millions of Filthy, Used Medical Gloves Imported Into the US - CNN

Wow! That is so dangerous! I hope they take everyone involved (and particularly the government officials who ignored the warnings), put them in jail and permanently throw away the key.

 

[ButchPlz]

You guys would be shocked by what I see in the medical supply chains I touch.

When I switch jobs I may share some.

 

[Vol423]

From the CNN Article:

"I think DHS has been a model around the world for how best to coordinate efforts among different agencies to really stop the import, the transactions and all the other surrounding criminal activity around Covid," Rose said.

That is the typical government response to pat themselves on the back after miserably failing to do their job competently.

 

[TNVOLNAVY]

(CNN) Trash bags stuffed full of used medical gloves, some visibly soiled, some even blood-stained, litter the floor of a warehouse on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Nearby is a plastic bowl, filled with blue dye and a few gloves. Thai officials say migrant laborers had been trying to make the gloves look new again, when Thai health authorities raided the facility in December.

There are many more warehouses just like it still in operation today in Thailand -- trying to cash in on the demand for medical-grade nitrile gloves, which exploded with the coronavirus pandemic. And they're boxing up millions of these sub-standard gloves for export to the United States, and countries around the world amid a global shortage that will take years to ease.

A months-long CNN investigation has found that tens of millions of counterfeit and second-hand nitrile gloves have reached the United States, according to import records and distributors who bought the gloves -- and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Criminal investigations are underway by the authorities in the US and Thailand.

Experts describe an industry riddled with fraud, with one of them -- Douglas Stein -- telling CNN that nitrile gloves are the "most dangerous commodity on Earth right now."

CNN Investigation: Tens of Millions of Filthy, Used Medical Gloves Imported Into the US - CNN

I chuckle every time I see some environmental green new deal dweeb cleaning trash out of the Pacific Ocean knowing that India, China, and the rest of Southeast Asia just dumped another load.

 

[ButchPlz]

I chuckle every time I see some environmental green new deal dweeb cleaning trash out of the Pacific Ocean knowing that India, China, and the rest of Southeast Asia just dumped another load.

You know these people are inauthentic when the big old dumb treaty they love literally excludes the world's worst polluters/climate destroyers.

 

[TNVOLNAVY]

You know these people are inauthentic when the big old dumb treaty they love literally excludes the world's worst polluters/climate destroyers.

The Chicoms just brought another coal fired plant online while you typed that.