In the first case of its type, the Irish Medicines Board has successfully prosecuted a Limerick-based businessman for illegally selling eczema creams containing steroids. Donal Walsh (60), formerly of Ballysimon Road, Limerick, set up business as a self-styled herbalist over a 15-year period, selling his illegal creams in the State and in Britain by mail order.
Walsh, now believed to be living in Askeaton, Co Limerick, was fined £3,000 at Newport District Court for supplying a medicine with prescribed substances, supplying a medicine by mail order and supplying a medicine without an IMB product authorisation between October, 1999 and June, 2000. He was fined £500 on each of the charges and ordered to pay £2,700 witnesses expenses.
One couple who treated their two-month-old daughter with his "Cherrydex" cream said they were disappointed with the sentence. Pat and Deborah O'Shea, from Killarney, said their baby had been traumatised by withdrawal symptoms after a dermatologist alerted them to the cream's content.
Applying a steroidal cream in uncontrolled conditions could have long-term effects. In one instance, it had thinned the skin on an adult's face so the person's veins could be seen, said Mr Hugo Bonar, the IMB's enforcement officer.
Walsh faced similar charges at Uxbridge Magistrate's Court, England, but these were dropped after he failed to make an appearance nine times, claiming he was unfit to attend.
In Newport, Judge Tom O'Donnell heard the defendant's mother and grandmother had been herbalists in the Askeaton area. When his mother died in 1985, Walsh, a former musician, took over the business, originally selling a non-steroidal cream.
Mr Bonar produced certificates of analysis, showing the cream contained corticosteroids, prescription-only medicines. People bought the cream, often to treat children, believing it was a herbal remedy. In children, a steroidal cream could, in extreme cases, stunt growth. While eczema in children normally cleared after a few years, worse forms of eczema could occur from applying a steroidal cream. "The sales pitch was herbal and natural, and to most people, that was good and safe and that is what these people believed it to be."
Walsh discontinued his business in mid-June of last year, Mr Bonar said. He was aware prescription products would have higher percentage steroid contents than the "Cherrydex" creams. "The problem is not in relation to the percentage, it is in relation to the control of the application." "Cherrydex" cream sold for £30 a tub, with instructions to apply it all over the body six times daily.
Mr Andrew Sexton, for Walsh, said he had operated an upfront clinic which was visited a number of times by the IMB before the prosecution. His creams had minute amounts of steroids and it would be unfair to cast him as a backstreet provider of steroids doing damage to people.