The FDA took a pretty rare step on Thursday, seizing contaminated heparin from the drug manufacturer Celsus laboratories, after sending warnings that the contaminated substance represents a risk for its customers and people in general. In January, the FDA found that large amounts of heparin that was shipped in the US was contaminated with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, making the substance used as a blood thinner unsafe and a danger for anyone using them.

Approximately 250 deaths were blamed on the tainted heparin and other hundreds of allergies and other related conditions were linked to the use of the tainted substance. The heparin products which were proven unsafe were heparin sodium and heparin lithium, used either directly as a blood thinner, or in surgical tubes, to prevent the blood from coagulating.

US marshals confiscated 11 lots of heparin from Celsus Laboratories at the demand of the FDA. The FDA stated that the action was taken in order to prevent the tainted substance from entering the market again.

The FDA advises anyone who may have bought heparin from Celsus to contact the company and verify if the substance is not contaminated. Celsus has already sent out letters, informing anyone who might have bought the tainted heparin to return it, as it is unsafe to use.

The recent actions of the FDA prove that the contaminated substance should be gotten rid off completely as it can, by accident, enter the marketplace once more and cause severe health issues. The steps taken by the FDA in this case were direct and to the point, a sensing US marshals to confiscate the substance doesn’t happen very often