Prescription drugs purchased online from Canadian pharmacies were intercepted before they reached the US, and after preliminary laboratory tests were found to be counterfeit. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers who may have obtained prescription drugs from Mediplan Prescription Plus Pharmacy or Mediplan Global Health in Manitoba, Canada not to take the medication as it may not be safe.

The drugs in question are Lipitor, Diovan, Actonel, Nexium, Hyzaar, Ezetrol or Zetia, Crestor, Celebrex, Arimidex, and Propecia. Most of the drugs are prescribed for cholesterol disorders and high blood pressure; Actonel for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women; Nexium for gastroesophageal reflux disease; Celebrex for arthritis-related pain; Propecia for male-pattern baldness and Arimidex is a breast cancer chemoprevention medication.

Interestingly, the FDA conducted an investigation last year and discovered that nearly half of the imported drugs they confiscated from four selected countries were shipped to fill orders that consumers believed they were placing with Canadian pharmacies. The drugs did not come from Canada. According to the FDA, 85 percent actually came from 27 other countries around the globe. Buyer beware.

The world is a dangerous place for the trusting and the innocent -- which is probably one of the reasons we have some of the laws we do to protect everyone.

Still, even with laws in place, it seems we are not all that safe. Frankly, I am disturbed by what I learned that I did not know about prescription drugs being dispensed in this country and the estimated number of those prescriptions that are counterfeit drugs. Drugs of ineffective strength. Drugs made with unknown chemicals. Drugs switched with less expensive drugs meant for another medical condition. Basically -- the wrong drugs.

In woman with fake boobs has real health worries, Busty and bothered wrote to women's medical health expert Dr. Judith Reichman asking if her breast implants will rupture during a mammogram or if there is a possibility that the implants will obscure signs of breast cancer. Dr. Reichman, who is NBC Today show's medical contributor on women's health, responded that both are valid concerns for the over four million women who have had breast augmentation. According the doctor, there were only 41 cases of implant ruptures during mammography reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between June 1992 and October 2002.

As to breast implants obscuring mammography readings, implants can cause a 15 to 50 percent decrease in the mammographically visualized breast tissue and several studies have reported false negative mammograms -- those that missed the cancer -- in 12 to 67 percent of women with breast implants. So, it's a bit of good news and bad news but women with breast implants should not put off having mammograms because of fear that the implants will be damaged or that there is no point in having a mammogram because there is a possibility the implants will obscure the early signs of breast cancer.