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Investigators found “alarming and shocking” conditions at a Vancouver Island pharmacy ordered to close Friday over unsanitary handling of human placenta being prepared for consumption, said a spokesman for the College of Pharmacists of B.C.
Isidore (Rudy) Sanchez, the manager of Marigold Compounding and Natural Pharmacy in Courtenay, has been suspended after an investigation revealed serious concerns with both the pharmacy site and the pharmacy practice.
The college believes this pharmacy poses a significant public safety and patient health risk, and shut down operations Friday morning.
Some examples of unsafe practices that the college believes pose a risk to the public include unsterile and unclean facilities being used to manufacture a variety of prescription drugs and over-the-counter health products without authority.
They also found that placenta, intended to be made into capsules to be swallowed, was handled and prepared with “little evident regard for safety protocols necessary when handling human tissue.”
Placenta encapsulation is used by some women who want to ingest their placenta after birth, believing that it helps with a mother’s recovery after labour.
This service was being offered despite the lack of a proper facility or the regulatory approval to provide it, the college said Friday in a statement.
Patients were also counselled on alternative drug therapies and products well outside the scope of pharmacy practice and without notification to the original prescriber.
Documentation was completed and submitted incorrectly to a number of patients, potentially putting that patient’s health at risk.
Agencies/Canadajournal
