Connecticut Attorney General Files Suit Against CVS for Expired Products
In June 2009, Cure CVS sent a letter to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, calling on the Attorney General to investigate CVS's sales of expired products in Connecticut. Cure CVS visited 20 CVS stores in Connecticut in May 2009 and found expired products at over half of them.On Monday, five months later, Attorney General Blumenthal announced that Connecticut is suing CVS for selling expired goods. According to Reuters, "antacids, baby formula, cough medicine, energy drinks and foods including eggs, milk and yogurt" were among the expired products found by the Attorney General's office for sale at CVS stores. According to WFSB in Hartford, the investigations - which took place in 2008 and 2009 - "showed that the problem worsened last year, and that nearly half of CVS stores surveyed this year were found selling expired products."
Blumenthal said of the lawsuit:
"CVS peddled potentially tainted food and ineffective medicine. Whether CVS was careless or heedless or overzealous for revenue, it betrayed its trust to consumers."Monday's announcement comes after CVS agreed to pay $875,000 to settle allegations in New York on issues surrounding the sale of expired products. New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed suit against CVS in June 2008 for "its pervasive sales of expired products." Earlier this year CVS also agreed to pay almost $1 million to settle similar allegations in California. And the City of Philadelphia created a law prohibiting the sale of expired non-prescription drugs, infant formula, baby food, milk, milk products and eggs within Philadelphia. The law was inspired by CVS's recurring problems with the sale of expired goods in the city.
Taken together, these actions point to a widespread problem at CVS pharmacies. CVS has been caught selling expired products at stores across the country, and while the steps taken in Connecticut, California, New York and Philadelphia are promising, many more consumers could be at risk. If you find an expired product for sale at a CVS pharmacy near you, be sure to let us know about it.
Related:
- Connecticut sues CVS for selling expired products [Reuters, 11/30/09]
- CVS Sued for Selling Expired Products in Connecticut [Bloomberg News, 11/30/09]
- Conn. AG Sues CVS Unit Over Alleged Sales Of Expired Products [Dow Jones via Wall Street Journal, 11/30/09]
- A.G.: CVS Sold Expired Products [NBC Connecticut, 11/30/09]
- Conn. sues CVS over expired products [Providence Business News, 11/30/09]
- Blumenthal: CVS sold expired products [The Day, 11/30/09]
- AG Suing CVS Over Expired Products [WFSB Hartford, 11/30/09]
Posted by Alex G. on December 1, 2009, 1:06 PM
6 Comments
Comments posted to the Cure CVS Blog are the sole property of the individual posting them, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Cure CVS campaign, Change to Win, its affiliated unions, or its leadership.
OMG GUESS WHAT WALGREENS AND RITE AID HAS OUTDATES, DO YALL HAVE A PAGE FOR THEM??? GET REAL
OMG GUESS WHAT? CVS HAS BEEN BUSTED MORE TIMES IN MORE PLACES FOR SELLING EXPIRED PRODUCTS THAN ANY OTHER DRUG STORE CHAIN. THEY DESRVE TO BE PUNISHED AND SHAMED FOR BREAKING THE LAW.
You should be ashamed to try to make lame excuses for such a lousy company. GROW UP.
I have been personally ordered by my manager to put food and drink items that were more than 6 months out of date back on the shelves and in the cooler and have been threatened with termination if i was "overzealous" in pulling outdates
Pepsi - 4 for $11, $2 extrabucks
The stuff expired 30 days ago. Some things never change - in Houston. From what I've seen, the management acts concerned, but acting is far different from doing the right thing. 2/11/10
I think your write up was really a good kick off to a potential series of blog posts about this topic. So many people act like they understand what they are writing about when it comes to this stuff and most of the time, hardly anyone actually get it. You seem to understand it though, so I think you ought to run with it. Thanks!
Nice to back your blog, I find it again for about a month, now I have bookmarked it.