Commerce Ministry vows action against firms exporting used rubber gloves after CNN probe
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said on Monday that his ministry is ready to investigate the case of filthy, used medical gloves reportedly being made to look like new before being exported from Thailand to the US and other countries.
He vowed the Commerce Ministry would take legal action against companies that are found guilty.
The move came after a CNN investigation report published on Sunday stated that "tens of millions of counterfeit and second-hand nitrile gloves have been imported into the US", citing import records and distributors who bought the gloves.
The news agency said there were many warehouses in Thailand that made used gloves look new for resale abroad in a bid to cash in on the demand for medical-grade nitrile gloves, sales of which exploded with the coronavirus pandemic.
“They’re boxing up millions of these substandard gloves for export to the United States and countries around the world amid a global shortage that will take years to ease,” the report said.
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CNN added that in February and March this year a US company warned two federal agencies – the Customs and Border Protection and the Food and Drug Administration – that it had received shipments filled with substandard and visibly soiled gloves from a company in Thailand.