Saturday, July 30, 2011

Fake Contact Lenses

Counterfeit products are no longer limited to health products, IT gadgets and branded goods, now even contact lenses are not spared. What is scary is that it is legitimate shops knowingly selling such products.

In recent years, in an attempt to cut costs and earn more profit, people have devised ingenious yet harmful products. From highly sought after IT gadgets (i.e. Apple iPhone), branded goods, all the way down to daily necessities (i.e. milk, eggs) and children’s toys. There’s just about a counterfeit for almost everything available in the (black) market.

Now there are even counterfeit contact lenses, which are harmful to the eyes. For the first time in Singapore, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has confiscated over 100 boxes of counterfeit colored contact lenses from legitimate suppliers, such as licensed optical shops. The confiscated boxes of counterfeit lenses were obtained after raiding five optical shops across the island. Currently, more than 10 people are also being questioned in connection to the case.

It was reported that the counterfeit contact lenses were fraudulently labeled as “FreshLook ColorBlends” Contact Lenses from CIBA VISION. These counterfeits were found to be unsafe and of poor quality: the solution in which the lenses are packed were tested and determined to have been contaminated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a harmful bacteria known to cause serious eye infections. The packaging for the counterfeits looks almost authentic, apart from typographical errors on the packaging. A closer look on how to spot the counterfeits here

To date, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has reported that one anonymous consumer, who is in her 30s, removed the lenses immediately when she could not close her eyes after wearing them.

According to CIBA VISION, this is...Read more >>

Smile, Honey

Smile, Honey is a family Korean drama that revolves around 2 families and their interactions. First, there is the Suh family, who owe their riches and prestige to the now-deceased CEO/father/grandfather. There are 5 members in the Suh family: Suh Jung-gil who is the head of the family, his wife Ju-hee, Sung joon the eldest son who went to U.S. to become a pro golfer, Jung-Kyung the second child in the family and Jung-in, the youngest daughter.

Jung-gil is a snobbish man and looks down on people who have no money, his wife is more of an air-head that only cares about her nails and feels faint at the slightest sign of trouble of hardwork.

Bascially, the whole Suh family, except for Jung-kyung are snotty and out of touch with reality. Jung-kyung is the only one in her family that is rational. However, she is a little too rational and practical; that it would seem that she lacks emotion: she’s cool, professional, and detached. Her attitude causes strain to her relationship with her younger sister Jung-in. Jung-kyung chooses to focus on her career and at the start of the show, interacts or spends very little time with her family, preferring to stay at the hospital than go home. She does not think too highly of her younger sister who is the princess of the family and only dreams about getting married into a good rich family.

Then there is the Kang family. Kang Man-bok (Grandpd Kang) has been the driver to the Suh family since Jung-gil’s father’s time. Jung-gil is rude to Man-bok and disrespectful to him; he even fires Man-bok one morning because he felt that Man-bok was nagging too much. Gandpa Kang is not necessarily the lead character but certainly the central one who holds the rest together...Read more>>