Orac is the nom de blog of a (not so) humble pseudonymous surgeon/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his miscellaneous verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few will. (Continued 
As I mentioned yesterday, I recently perused all the e-mails that Gmail had flagged as spam and to my dismay found a lot of legitimate e-mail, including mailing list e-mails and Movable Type e-mails notifying me of comments being caught up in the filter. However, I found something scarier than that. In fact, I found perhaps the scariest spam that I've ever encountered.
Did you know that spammers are claiming to be selling chemotherapeutic agents from India? Check it out:
From: euroasias@ricmail.com
Subject: Anti-Cancer Drugs
Date: July 6, 2007 10:32:56 PM EDT
To: [ORAC]
EUROASIA's TRANS CONTINENTAL PARVATI INDUSTRIAL ESTATE,
KM 207 , 2nd FLOOR
NEW SUN MILL COMPOUND
LOWER PAREL, MUMBAI - 400 013,INDIA
TEL : 91 22 66662934 / 66662935
FAX : 91 22 66662932
E-MAIL : eurasian@vsnl.com
rishabh_euroasia@vsnl.net
karen_euroasia@vsnl.net
CELL : 9820050795 - Keshor
Msn Messenger --- keshor_euroasias@hotmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------= -------------------------------------------------------------------------= ----Dear Sir/Madam,
This is to introduce ourselves as one of the leading
Exporters/Sourcing partners of BULK DRUGS and Raw Materials for
the PHARMACEUTICALS from India .EUROASIA'S TRANS CONTINENTAL - Offers wide range of laboratory
materials for R & D usage used for :
a.. Scientific And Genomic Research
b.. Biotechnology
c.. Pharmaceutical Development
d.. Diagnosis of DiseaseAt present we have Anti-Cancer drugs as below , Kindly let us have your
inquiries for us to submit our offers ---->
- (2R,3S)-(-)-N-benzoyl-3-phenylisoserine methyl ester
- (2R,3S)-(-)-N-boc-3-phenylisoserine methyl
- (5-Aminolevulinic Acid HCl)
- 1.4-benzoquinone
- 10- Deacetyl Baccatin
- 5-ALA
- Adriamycin
- Amantadine
- Amidox
- Amifostine
- Aminoglutethimide
- Amsacrine
- Anastrozole
- Ancitabine
- Ansamitocin
- Astromicin
- Atenololum
- Azacitidine
- Azasetron
- Benserazide
- Biperiden
- Bleomycin sulfate
- Budipine
- Busulfan
- Cabergoline
- Capecitabine
- Carbidopa
- Carboplatin
- Carmofur
- Carmustine
- Chlorambucil
- Chlormethine
- Cilastatin
- Cis-4-phenyl-3-triethylsiloxylazetidin-2-one
- Cladribine
- Clavulanic acid
- Clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate
- Clsplatin
- Cyclophosphamide
- Cytarabine
- Dacarbazine
- Daunorubicin hydrochloride
- Ditiocarb Sodium
- Docetaxel
- Donepezil
- Doramectin
- Doxifluridine
- Doxorubicin
- Droxidopa
- Eflornithine
- Enocitabine
- Entacapone
- Entecavir
- Epirubicin
- Erlotinib
- Estramustine
- Etoposide
- Exemestane
- Flavopiridol
- Floxuridine
- Flucytosine
- Fludarabine Phosphate
- Fluorouracil
- Flutamide
- Folinic Acid
- Fotemustine
- Fulvestrant
- Galantamine
- Gefitinib
- Gemcitabine
- Goserelin
- Idarubicin
- Idebenone
- Ifosfamide
- Imatinib
- Irinotecan
- Isepamicin sulfate
- Letrozole
- Levodopa
- Lobaplatin
- Lomustine
- Lonidamine
- Loxapine succinate
- Melphalan
- Mercaptopurine
- Mesna
- Methotrexate
- Midostaurin
- Miltefosine
- Mitomycin
- Mitotane
- Mitoxantrone
- Moxidectin
- Nedaplatin
- Nilutamide
- Nimustine
- Nolatrexed
- Orphenadrine
- Oxaliplatin
- Paclitaxel
- Pemetrexed
- Pentostatin
- Pergolide
- Pirarubicin
- Pramipexole
- Pravastatin
- Pridinol
- Procarbazine
- Raloxifene
- Raltitrexed
- Ramosetron
- Ranimustine
- Rasagiline
- Rivastigmine
- Ropinirole
- Satraplatin
- Selegiline
- Suramin
- Tacrine
- Tacrolimus
- Tegafur
- Temozolomide
- Terguride
- Testolactone
- Thalidomide
- Thiotepa
- Tioguanine
- Tiopronin
- Tirapazamine
- Tolcapone
- Topotecan
- Toremifene
- Tretinoin Tocoferil
- Ubenimex
- Uracil
- Vapreotide
- Vinblastine
- Vincristine
- Vindesine
- Vinorelbine
APART FROM ABOVE WE ALSO OFFERS ALL ANTI - PRODUCTS , AS BELOW:
- Anti-Analgesics
- Anti-Arrhythmics
- Anti-Bacterial
- Anti-Cholinergics
- Anti-Coagulants
- Anti-Convulsants
- Anti-Depressants
- Anti-Diabetic
- Anti-Diuretic
- Anti-Fungal
- Anti-Hypertensives
- Anti-Inflammatory
- Anti-Malarials
- Anti-Neoplastic
- Anti-Nootropic
- Anti-Parkinson
- Anti-Retroviral Agents
- Anti-Tuberculosis
- Anti-Tussives
- Anti-Ulcerative
- Anti-Virals
AND MANY MORE ......EUROASIA'S provide laboratory quantities of a wide range of
materials for R & D usage.We welcome all inquiries of small quantities for research purposes
from Milligram TO Kilograms.
Kindly let us have your specific inquiries by return for
us to submit our offers .
The list includes items in stock or supplied is not exhaustive
and we would be happy to quote
for items not shown.
*** Patented Products available for R&D use as permitted
under 35 USC 271 (e) (1)
Products protected under specific patents in
certain countries are not offered or supplied for commercial use
Our associate company Euroasian's Chemicals Pvt Ltd also deal in
, Pharma-Intermediates ,Food Colours , Food Additives , Veterniary ,
Feed-Additives and Herbals .
Looking forward to your reply .
Regards,
K R Chokhani
MSN: keshor_euroasias@hotmail.com
yogininaik@hotmail.com
karen_euroasia@hotmail.com
*** EUROASIA'S - An International Sourcing Agent at your Fingertips ***
Be very grateful that I spared you the multi-colored text and bad HTML. Red, green, brown, and pink all mixed together seemingly at random and sometimes even by the word. The pain.
Yep, that's where I'd be buying my chemotherapeutics from, a spammer. Not just any spammer, but one advertising a service in India and who uses garish colors in the text of the spam. (Really, the colors do have to be seen to be believed.) I wonder how good the quality of their "product" is.
Never mind. I think I know.
Comments
I didn't see DCA on the list - is it hiding under a pseudonym?
Bob
Posted by: Bob O'H | July 8, 2007 10:54 AM
What is an Anti-Analgesic? Is that what the Bush administration uses in on detainees to facilitate their interrogation?
Some of these have been reported to be useful in treating autism. Flutamide and Nilutamide for example. That might be a case where treatment with something likely to be counterfeit might be better therapy than with actual drug.
Presumably someone is buying these drugs and then using them on patients.
Posted by: daedalus2u | July 8, 2007 12:01 PM
I'm not a doctor or a pharmacologist, but I know that amantadine, carbodopa and levodopa are Parkinsons therapies. I didn't know they were anti-cancer agents. Or are the spammers full of it? (No surprise)
Posted by: Eamon Knight | July 8, 2007 1:03 PM
I usually delete that stuff right off the bat.
I wouldn't reply, then they'll know you're 'live and bombard you with all kinds of offers.
It's not a happy thought that you might have to be demanding to see the original packaging of drugs before they infuse you so you know it's the real thing.
Posted by: AnnR | July 8, 2007 1:37 PM
Looking through the list I find I haven't done isepamicin sulfate
or loxapine succinate yet. Orac, do you recommend eating them, smoking them, freebasing them?
Posted by: Martin R | July 8, 2007 2:07 PM
Take them as suppositories. That goes for any other drug... hell anything. Capsules, tablets, steak, a C-130 aeroplane, robot overlords: ANYTHING!! Orac has already exposed the woo-filled wonders of backdoor coffee, which I now get fresh from starbucks, no cup requured.
I can offer neither expanation nor excuse for my comment.
Posted by: hellocthulu | July 8, 2007 2:56 PM
Well they did say they offer "ALL ANTI-PRODUCTS" which I have a feeling is exactly what you'd receive. At least they are up front about it.
Posted by: Teapot In Orbit | July 8, 2007 7:11 PM
No anti-emetics?
Forget it!
Posted by: Julia | July 8, 2007 9:15 PM
It's also ironic that the exporter of such unscientific concepts of medicine as Ayurvedic and TM (it's not India's fault - I blame the Beatles) that have mesmerised so many Europeans and Americans is now apparently flogging very Western pharmaceuticals to us. We must be depressingly gullible!
Posted by: Peter Barber | July 10, 2007 4:11 AM
I know a woman whose insurance (Aetna) is refusing to pay for her chemotherapy for breast cancer because she has reached her $1,000 limit. As she can't afford the $50,000 or so cost of the chemo and accompanying drugs, I could see someone like her, or more likely, a shady health care worker, responding to this kind of come-on. Scary indeed.
Posted by: laurasf | July 10, 2007 3:42 PM