While the Feds continue to ignore the quality of food coming in from abroad, the senate today approved a requirement for “safety certification” of imported prescription drugs, effectively banning them.
In light of the massive pet food poisonings due to imported gluten, and last week’s FDA warning to drug suppliers and manufacturers about deadly Chinese antifreeze falsely labeled as glycerin, this vote exposes what our government is more concerned about–protection of American drug companies.
I’m all for profit, but is it too much to ask that the American people get as much protective action as companies like Merck?
Senate blocks drug-import measure
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A Senate vote on Monday likely assures that U.S. borders will remain shut to lower-priced prescription-drug imports, marking a major victory for pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The Senate voted 49-40 to approve an amendment to a bill dealing with the Food and Drug Administration, which would require the secretary of the Health and Human Services Department to certify that drug imports would pose no safety risk to American consumers before allowing pharmacies to import prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. Health officials have said they can’t provide that level of assurance.Dorgan argued that his legislation offered plenty of safeguards for consumers, including language that would allow only drugs manufactured in FDA-approved facilities to be imported. The Dorgan amendment also required pharmacies and wholesalers to document the chain of custody of drugs from manufacturer to customer.
Ha. Now if we could only get that when it comes to the food we consume. What a bunch of bought-and-paid-for corporate lapdogs.
This is truly disgusting…and another reason to shop at local farmer’s markets, to grow vegetables, and to ask the important questions from our grocers as to where our meats originated. In addition, I hope the pet food recall will have us pay closer attention to what we feed our furry companions.
The biggest action we need to take is to write our senators as well congressmen and to hold them accountable to those who put them in their offices in the first place.
Tammy,
I am a little confused by your position on this. As the pet food fiasco has unfolded, you’ve wondered in rightful frustration why we were importing food ingredients from untrustworthy pits like China.
This bill blocks such imports when it comes to prescription drugs. Allowing foreign made/distributed drugs to come in opens us up to more Third World counterfeiting, Chinese “tainting”, and Islamic terrorist poisoning than we already have. The FDA is currently inept at regulating the drugs that are made stateside; imagine them flooded beyond capacity trying to process drugs from Albania to Zambia.
We’ve already had scares from people trying to save money by buying Rx drugs from overseas by mail order or online and ending up with designer drug/counterfeit versions of pills like Lipitor, Procrit, and Viagra manufactured somewhere in Asia.
As someone who works in the healthcare/fitness industries, I am no fan of the pharma-culture we’ve fostered in this country for the past generation. But loosening restrictions on foreign drugs, so that more people can get their unnecessary meds cheaper at the risk of disastrous consequences, is not going to solve the problem of our drug-addicted society.
I guess I get confused over the big muss too. As a disclaimer I am one of those evil people who work in the pharmaceutical industry who have recently learned we rank just between oil and big tobacco in business ethics.
Here are a few of the business challenges the pharmaceutical industry faces.
1. Price controls on products that take 7-10 years and upwards of a billion dollars to research. Remimportation is the first step to price controls.
2. Illegal pirating of our drugs (can you say China) after a billion dollar investment
3. Massive lawsuits (most are money hungry lawyers that pimp for clients on the Jerry Springer Show).
4. Generic competition (where generic companies hire umpteen million lawyers whose only purpose is to break your patent and take your sales AFTER you have invested billions of dollars
5. Sniveling democrats who must villify any industry that makes a profit (apparently it is a sin for investors to expect their billions of dollars back)
6. The need to hire doctors, lawyers, statisticians, regulatory specialists, lobbiests (all people who dont work cheap).
These are just a few…the list is exhausting.
As you can see this is a challenging industry that has severe risks at every juncture. The regulatory obstacles would make your head spin.
To be clear, I am glad someone in Washington is fighting for my industry. I work just as hard as any of you do and it really burns my rubber to have someone in a position of influence (like you Tammy) helping to perpetuate this image of us as leeches on America’s rear end. I am proud to help research products that can add quality to a person’s life (even if you think it should be provided at no profit).
I urge you to take your given responsibility more seriously and to consider the consequences of your wreckless speech. I wonder how you and Rosie O’Donnel differ with respect to this issue???