Even with the lure of cheaper drugs from Canada and other countries, Leavitt said counterfeiting is becoming a lucrative illegal business that will cause deaths.

"It is an issue that is not receiving enough attention," Leavitt said Friday after giving a commencement speech and seeing his son graduate from the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law. "Drug counterfeiting is even attracting organized crime. There are counterfeiters all over the world who are making pills that look like what you would get at your pharmacy."

To gauge the scope of the problem, Leavitt and some of his workers ordered drugs from a Web site that said the medications were coming from Canada. Turns out they came through some type of network including people in China, the Caribbean and Dallas.

"Many of the drugs were way under or over the dose," he said. "We had a syringe tested, and it was tap water."

Leavitt said exposing the threat of prescription counterfeiting is one of his many goals.

As secretary, he is in charge of the largest civilian department in the federal government, with more than 66,000 employees and a budget that accounts for almost one out of every four federal dollars. He oversees Medicare, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among other divisions.

"It's a big job, but I'm enjoying it," he said.

Prior to his current post, Leavitt was administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a three-term governor of Utah.

This weekend, the Cedar City native is traveling to Geneva, Switzerland, for a conference of the World Health Assembly. One of the hottest topics slated for discussion is avian influenza. Also known as bird flu, the virus occurs in birds and can kill some domesticated birds, including chickens, ducks and turkeys, or make them sick. Some humans in Asia have contracted the virus.

"We've had three pandemics in the last century, so it's a top priority," Leavitt said. These viruses are "biological earthquakes, and we don't know when they will be set off."

Leavitt and representatives of other countries also will address the global HIV/AIDS situation, which has hit Africa especially hard. President Bush has committed $15 billion to addressing the problem, he said.

Helping more seniors afford prescription drugs is another task for Leavitt and his employees.

In the next month, the agency will be spreading the word about the prescription drug program for Medicare recipients.

The program will begin in 2006, and the government is encouraging seniors to enroll beginning in June.

There are 41 million residents in the country enrolled in Medicare, including about 185,000 Utah seniors.

Critics say the cost of the prescription drug program continues to escalate and won't help that many seniors. But Leavitt disagrees.

"We anticipate that between now and the end of 2006, 28 to 30 million people will enroll," Leavitt said.

chamilton@sltrib.com