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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.

 

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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]

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