7 charged over sale of bogus contact lenses

[General Veers]

7 charged over sale of bogus contact lenses
They are the first to be charged by HSA with such an offence

Published on Feb 21, 2012
By Fiona Low

Opticians Pae Bee Kian (left) and Ng Cheng Peow, who own optical shop Crystalite Contact Lens & Optical, are among the seven facing charges. -- ST PHOTO: NADARAJAN RAJENDRAN
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Seven people, four of whom ran optical shops, were charged on Monday over their involvement in the sale of counterfeit contact lenses - the first time the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) is pressing charges over such an offence.

The authorities have recovered 122 boxes of the lenses fraudulently labelled as FreshLook ColorBlends from Ciba Vision while eight boxes had been sold to the public.

An HSA spokesman said it had not received any complaints from the public so far arising from the use of counterfeit lenses.

The case came to light when the four opticians sent the lenses to Ciba Vision for exchange in June last year. Opticians commonly return stock to the makers for lenses of different colours or degrees.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.