In Uganda, it is very hard for someone to notice counterfeit products especially when it comes to our local people in villages and in some of our communities. The consciousness of checking whether what you are consuming is not detrimental to your health is only among the few enlightened and informed people who know the harm in consuming or using counterfeit products.
One of the things that make these counterfeit products more dangerous is the fact that they don’t go through the quality control testes. This means that the fake producers of these products just use any raw materials or chemicals at their disposal to produce a product similar to the original , with one single aim of getting money. They don’t care about the harm that product can cause to its consumers.
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The government loses a lot money in these counterfeit products in form of taxes, because these producers of counterfeit products don’t go through the right government assessment channels , meaning they don’t pay certain remunerations that are supposed to be given to the government officials to asses the quality of their products.
One thing you should know as a final consumer of these products is that counterfeit products are in all products and consumables that we use in our day to day life. From electrical appliances, beverages, alcohol, foods, utensils, clothes and so many other things.
Finally, the sad bit of it all is in the fact that the officials who are supposed to be stopping this scourge, some of them are silenced with money from the producers of these fake products. They even tell them when they are to do operations so that they are not caught by the security operatives. If we are to stop counterfeiting of products, we need to be very intentional on the health consequences that come with consuming and using these products. You might take the money, and one of your families ends up as a victim of using these products.
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