SYDNEY£¬ Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Australian healthcare sector was rocked on Tuesday evening£¬ with details of a 2010 report revealing that thousands of counterfeit prescription pills have infiltrated the New South Wales medical supply chain and even made it to the Sydney Children's Hospital.

Alarms were raised when a healthcare worker was administering a child with the drug Viagra to treat the condition of pulmonary hypertension.

The staff member noticed there were inconsistencies in the appearance of the tablets and the hospital contacted the manufacturer Pfizer to investigate.

"There could have been serious consequences had babies been treated with the counterfeits£¬ it's extremely alarming that this happened£¬" New South Wales deputy chief pharmacist Bruce Battye told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

As a result of the incident£¬ one of Australia's largest medical distributors£¬ Symbion£¬ had their license pulled after it was revealed pharmacist Mina Attia told investigators he bought the drugs from an unlicensed supplier.

It's believed the stock went to around 260 pharmacies and three hospitals and although Symbion recalled all of its stock immediately following the 2010 scandal£¬ it has refused to name the hospitals.

At the moment the company is fighting in court to have its license reinstated£¬ claiming they have learned from their mistakes and only authorise drug purchases directly from manufacturers.

Some healthcare professional believe this is merely the tip of the iceberg£¬ with huge counterfeit pharmaceutical operations being carried out in Asia and South America. The fake medicine trade is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar business.

"I don't think a lot of it is being detected£¬" counterfeit drug investigator ken Gamble said.

"We have done a number of orders into Australia doing trap purchases£¬ test buys -- none of our orders have been stopped. So£¬ that's an indication they're not getting everything by any means."

"Antibiotics£¬ anti-inflammatory drugs£¬ you see them all. Even some of the well-known sleeping tablets£¬ but the big business£¬ the big money is in sexual enhancement."

NEW YORK http://www.airmaxshoesclearanceoutlet.com/ , June 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened narrowly mixed Monday to kick off a holiday shortened week, as major stock indices are on track to end June on a positive note.

On the economic front, the Chicago Business Barometer eased to 62.6 in June, from a seven-month high of 65.5 in May air max clearance sale , but was still up sharply on the quarter and consistent with a bounce-back in the second-quarter GDP, the Institute for Supply Management-Chicago said on Monday. But the latest figure missed market expectations.

Later in the morning session, the National Association of Realtors will release pending home sales for May, and the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank will publish its June manufacturing survey.

The major focus of the week will be the U.S. nonfarm payroll report for June scheduled for release on Thursday by the Labor Department. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the U.S. unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 6.3 percent in June with 211 cheap air max clearance ,000 jobs created.

U.S. financial markets will be closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.

Monday marks the final trading day of June and the first half of this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are poised to end June higher to post their fifth straight month of gains, while the Nasdaq is also pointed to log monthly gains.

Moreover, the three major stock indices are on track to end the first half of 2014 higher.

Shortly after the opening bell, the blue-chip Dow lost 28.90 points air max china outlet clerance , or 0.17 percent, to 16,822.94. The S&P 500 edged down 0.22 points, or 0.01 percent mens nike air max clerance , to 1,960.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 4.77 points, or 0.11 percent, to 4 air max outlet clearance ,402.70.