Financial paper Talouselämä reports that buying medicines online often involves many risks. Quoting the Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea, Talouselämä writes there are dozens of illegal online pharmacies that sell counterfeit products under well-known brand names.
”Nowadays, counterfeit medicines are very skillfully manufactured and it is almost impossible to distinguish them without laboratory tests,” says Senior Pharmaceutical Inspector Sami Paaskoski from Fimea.
”Fake products are always dangerous and can be fatal. That’s why consumers need to thoroughly consider where they get their medicines from,” he adds.
However, there are some details that may help consumers to identify genuine legal online pharmacies. For example, lawful businesses provide their contact information, including address and phone number, and do not sell prescription medicines without a prescription. They also never offer discounts on branded medicines, according to the paper.
Accoring to Talouselämä, readers should also remember that there are rules attached the import of medicines.
”Buying and obtaining pharmaceuticals mailed from outside of the European Union is forbidden, and consumers can be held liable for trading them illegally,” Paaskoski says.
The safest way to buy medicines is at pharmacies and legal online providers, which are listed on Fimea’s web site, the paper adds.
Dead fish
In other news, tabloid Iltalehti reports that a chemical treatment of a Tampere pond has caused a massive fish kill. About a ton of dead fish has been found in Mikkolanlampi, which was cleaned last Thursday with the coagulant chemical polyaluminum chloride.
According to Iltalehti, diver Mika Karhu, who visited the shallow, seven-hectare pond during the weekend, says the treatment killed most of the pond’s fish.
Ari Tuominen from the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment says it is unfortunate so many fish died, but the fish population will recover.
”Besides, treating the pond chemically was the only way to restore it to its previous state,” Tuominen told the paper.
Tampere Water, which used to discharge wastewater into the pond, undertook the chemical treatment. The waterworks will also be responsible for removing the dead fish, Tuominen says.
Last year, the Finnish Environment Institute said hundreds of oxygen-depleted lakes could be cleaned up with a chemical flush.
Good-bye Russia
Meanwhile, daily Turun Sanomat reports that department store chain Stockmann has sold its last remaining property in Russia. The Nevsky Centre shopping mall in St. Petersburg will be purchased by PPF Real Estate for 171 million euros.
Stockmann’s chief executive Lauri Veijalainen says the sale would provide the company with financial flexibility.
”The divestment enables Stockmann to fully focus on developing its department store properties in Finland and the Baltic countries,” Veijalainen says.
The Nevsky Centre in the centre of St. Petersburg has 90 tenants and 46,000 square meters of shopping space.
Turun Sanomat says that two years ago Stockmann sold its loss-making department stores in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg for a bargain price of five million euros, but granted the buyer Reviva Holdings the right to use Stockmann branding at least until 2023 .
Stockmann has eight department stores and it also owns the fashion chain Lindex.
