WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Tens of millions of already used nitrile medical gloves were imported into the United States from Thailand during the pandemic, CNN reported on Sunday, citing its own investigation.

In Thailand, numerous illegal enterprises sprung up during the pandemic, where migrant labourers have been washing and trying to restore the original appearance of disposable medical gloves given their high global demand, CNN said. The product was then shipped to different countries. A months-long investigation revealed that millions of such counterfeit and second-hand nitrile gloves ended up in the US, according to import records and distributors who bought them.

“There’s an enormous amount of bad product coming in, an endless stream of filthy, second-hand and substandard gloves coming into the US of which federal authorities, it seems, are only now beginning to understand the enormous scale,” Douglas Stein, an industry expert, was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

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