|
Governor calls imported Rx drug warning a scare
tactic
Send a link to a friend
Response to Food and Drug Administration
warning about alleged terror plots involving drug importation
Statement by Gov. Rod Blagojevich
[AUG. 13, 2004]
CHICAGO -- Thursday's
warning by the FDA over alleged dangers of imported prescription
drugs from Canada shows once again that the agency is more
interested in scare tactics than in helping struggling Americans
safely obtain prescription drugs at a price they can afford.
|
|
Over the past year, we have carefully
and rigorously studied the Canadian pharmaceutical system. I sent
Illinois' regulators and pharmaceutical experts to look at every
aspect of the Canadian drug regulatory and dispensing system. They
found that the Canadian system meets all our safety requirements and
-- because they don't have multiple layers of wholesalers,
re-packagers and re-labelers
-- there are significantly fewer
opportunities for tampering and counterfeiting than there are here
in the United States. As a result, not only is it safe to import
prescription drugs from Canada, in many cases, it's safer than the
systems we have in place here. The FDA is well aware of that, which
makes their claims that much more dubious.
[to top of second column in
this article]
 |
To suggest that prescription drugs that
come from outside our borders are unsafe is to completely ignore
reality. Some of the most common name-brand drugs are manufactured
in other countries and then exported to the United States, including
Lipitor, Prevacid, Zocor, Welchol and Demadex.
The FDA
would serve the public better by stopping its efforts to protect a
system that gouges American consumers and instead work with states
like Illinois to help consumers safely and easily purchase drugs at
a price they can afford from approved pharmacies in Canada.
[News release from the
governor's office]
Related article elsewhere
 |
