If you’re in need of prescription medication these days, you no longer have to wait in line at your local pharmacy.
Rather, you can be like the millions across the globe flocking to the internet to find cheap generic brand prescription pharmaceuticals.
But due to the increased proliferation of dangerous counterfeit medications on the internet, it isn’t always the safest idea to do so.
That is, until Bing decided to make our lives easier. In early August, the search engine announced that it would be warning users when they come across unsafe online pharmacies via their search engine.
America’s healthcare system is in a strange state these days. While lifespan has increased significantly, more and more individuals are being diagnosed with chronic, life-threatening illnesses, such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.
Because of this, our country is heavily dependent on pharmaceuticals. In fact, almost 50% (48.5%) of Americans have used a minimum of one prescription medication in the past month.
Taking fake medication can be harmful to a person’s health in more ways than one. Not only could their condition could go untreated and get worse, but the fillers used in the counterfeit drugs could put users in serious harm.
It can often be difficult to tell whether drugs are counterfeit or not, particularly if they come in the form of a generic brand. This becomes doubly difficult when purchased on the internet.
But now, when users search for online pharmacies using Bing, the search engine will pre-emptively alert them that the website is illegitimate. According to Search Engine Journal, Bing makes its warnings based off of a list compiled by the FDA.
Search Engine Journal additionally reports that the warnings will function similarly to when a user visits a site containing malware.
While the warning will inevitably pop up, Bing will not definitively prevent the internet user from navigating the site. The choice is ultimately in their own hands.