• Health
• Money
• Leisure
• Make a Difference
• Family
• Online Community
• Membership

FDA Criticized for 'Scaring' People Who Buy Medicines from Canada

By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2003-06-23 13:56:06

• Comment
• E-mail
• Print
• Bookmark
• Share

Share

• DIGG
• DEL.ICIO.US
• LINKED IN
• FACEBOOK

E-mail to a friend

Your E-mail:


Your Name:


To:

(Separate multiple addresses with commas)

Message:

(Maximum length: 1,000 characters)

CC me

The controversy over importing prescription drugs from Canada took a new turn recently when several members of Congress accused officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of trying to "scare" older Americans from taking part in the cross-border trade.

At a heated hearing of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, Republican Chairman Dan Burton of Indiana and other lawmakers grilled the officials on recent FDA warnings that buying drugs by mail from Canada is illegal and may be unsafe.

"Seniors … may know that you're not really going to prosecute them," Burton told FDA Associate Commissioner William Hubbard. "But you're scaring the hell out of them."

The FDA has taken the position that the illegal practice of reimporting American-made medications from Canada, where they cost less, also raises questions of public safety. The drugs could be counterfeit or contaminated, the agency says.

But under questioning, Hubbard admitted he could not say that Canada regulates prescription drugs any less rigorously than the United States. He also said he knew of no cases of Americans yet being harmed by drugs from Canada.

Burton tells the AARP Bulletin that he put the FDA on the spot because "I think it's very important that our government agencies not be complicitous with the drug companies in forcing Americans to pay exorbitant prices."

The FDA's warning that it would crack down on groups that "aid and abet" American consumers in buying drugs from Canada came soon after the drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline announced it would stop supplying its drugs to Canadian pharmacies that sold to Americans. "I don't think that was a coincidence," Burton says.

"I'm not for price controls," he adds, "but if the drug companies don't voluntarily start selling drugs at a reasonable price here as they do in Canada and Europe, then I think the government needs to look at regulation."