According to a Ladaat report, the Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva has turned to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, seeking a hechsher for its products. Senior company officials have already met with Chief Rabbis, Rishon L’Tzion HaRav Moshe Shlomo Amar Shlita and HaRav Yonah Metzger Shlita.
It appears the new Israeli law permitting the sale of many items without a prescription has resulted in a wave of inquiries to Teva, from citizens asking about the kashrus status of the drugs.
Teva has submitted a list of drugs to the Chief Rabbinate, with the ingredients contained in those products, hoping to receive a hechsher to satisfy kashrus-conscious consumers. Veteran Teva employee R’ Avraham Meir, who also serves as a kashrus consultant for the company, appears to be behind the move. Together with the company’s deputy director-general, Chaim Horowitz, the two are working with the chief rabbis towards obtaining a hechsher.
Meir is aware that in order to obtain a hecsher on certain products, some of the ingredients will have to be changed.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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2 Responses
Teva is known primarily for generics, meaning they usually have competition for their products. Also, kosher parve certification will improve marketability among Muslims, Hindus and vegetarians. And some of the products they make are arguably nutrition rather than medicine.
Economics is an effective form of religious coercion.
BS”D
Beware. Many of those nutrition products they make, especially in their Hungarian factory, are unproven herbal and vitamin based remedies of the types R’ Avrohom Blumenkrantz AH and R’ Eli Teitelbaum AH often warned people about.
I hope that such products are not given a hechsher, as I see frum people wasting far too much scarce money on this quack chozzerei as it is and a hechsher on a product is often seen by devotees of this quackerei in the frume velt as reason to waste even more money.
As for the rest of their products, I am shocked that they have not been kosher all this time, although of course in many cases kashrus supervision is not needed on medication and in mot cases all prescribed medicine must be taken as indicated as pikuach nefesh doiche kol haTorah.