Expired infant formula, medications and milk remain on CVS shelves according to investigators who found over a hundred out-of-date products at 67 CVS stores in the Philadelphia, Detroit and Boston areas in recent days. The news comes more than two weeks after a report by Cure CVS exposed the drugstore chain's problems with expired goods across the country. That same day, the New York Attorney General filed suit against CVS for offering expired products for sale. At that time, a CVS spokesman said "Our policy is to remove items before the expiration date."
At events today in Boston, Detroit and Philadelphia, investigators displayed the expired products recently purchased at CVS stores, including
- Vanquish pain reliever purchased in Amesbury, Mass., on December 17, 2008 that had expired over a year before, in November 2007.
- CVS brand ibuprofen, purchased in Detroit on December 15, 2008, which had expired over a year and a half before, in April of 2007.
- Momentum back pain medication that expired in November 2007, purchased on December 12, 2008 in Philadelphia.
- Similac infant formula purchased in Cambridge, Mass., on December 17, 2008, that expired more than four months before, on August 1, 2008.
- Lowfat milk bought in Braintree, Mass., on December 18, 2008 that had expired over two weeks before, on December 3, 2008.
"CVS needs to take responsibility and match their practice to their policy," said Cure CVS spokesperson Ahmer Qadeer. "Time and time again, CVS has promised regulators that it will stop exposing the public to expired products, and time and again CVS fails the test."
Qadeer pointed out that two Attorneys General have demanded that CVS remove expired goods from their stores. "In New York, the Attorney General is suing," he observed. "Yet we still found dozens of expired products on CVS shelves from Boston to Detroit to Philadelphia."
Using expired products could be dangerous. The infant formula industry's own trade group says that vitamin levels in infant formula decrease after the expiration date. Expired medications also pose potential risks. Outdated children's liquid medicines could evaporate, resulting in children taking a concentrated, adult dose of medicine. Aspirin loses potency over time which could endanger patients taking aspirin daily to protect against heart disease.
CVS repeatedly caught selling expired products:
Today's findings follow another investigation this year where 64% of Greater Detroit stores surveyed (132 out of 206), 32% of Philadelphia stores surveyed (62 of 193) and 27% of Greater Boston stores surveyed (62 out of 223) had infant formula past their 'sell by' dates for purchase and/or expired milk or eggs in the cooler. Surveyors also found expired over-the-counter drugs - often children's medicines and often CVS brand products - on sale. The findings were part of a nationwide study of the troubled drugstore chain titled "Cure CVS: From low quality to high prices, CVS is failing our communities" now available at www.CureCVSNow.org
In New York, the Attorney General is suing CVS, citing CVS's "unwillingness to properly address the problems found at its New York stores" with expired products. CVS made a legally binding agreement with the New York Attorney General to stop selling expired drugs in 2003. Then the Attorney General found expired goods on CVS shelves in June of this year - and again just weeks after announcing his initial findings and after CVS had promised to cooperate with the Attorney General's investigation. After determining that CVS had failed to keep expired products off its shelves, the Attorney General filed a lawsuit against CVS on December 4, 2008.
In June 2008, California's Attorney General Brown investigated CVS stores in response to consumer complaints. His staff found expired products on the shelves of 26 CVS stores in Southern California. The expired products included infant formula, over-the-counter medicines, milk and eggs.
For more information visit www.CureCVSNow.org
Cure CVS is an initiative by Change to Win and partner organizations to reform the drugstore industry, starting with CVS, the country's leading provider of prescription drugs and largest drugstore chain. By joining concerned citizen groups with the six million members of Change to Win unions, Cure CVS aims to ensure that CVS provides equal access across all communities and income levels to its stores and services, offers fair and accurate prices, provides quality products and services, protects customers' privacy and puts quality pharmacy care first.