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In reply to the discussion: The Booker bashing is why we lose. [View all]pnwmom
(110,261 posts)And I've added a relevant link from the FDA.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gracemarieturner/2016/03/16/drug-importation-equals-unsafe-drugs-mr-trump/#582b57a6bd3d
In August of 2003, during the earlier drug importation debate, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) examined mail shipments of imported drugs flowing to U.S. consumers through Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Carson, CA. Investigators found that 88% of the drugs they examined did not meet FDA standards. The packages often contained dangerous, unapproved, or counterfeit drugs.
A second inspection blitz in November of 2003at the Buffalo, Dallas, Chicago and Seattle mail facilities and the Memphis and Cincinnati courier hubsrevealed similar problems: 1,728 unapproved drugs among the 1,982 parcels inspected. The unapproved drugs included foreign versions of FDA-approved drugs, recalled drugs, drugs requiring special storage conditions, drugs requiring close physician monitoring, and animal drugs not approved for humans.
Former FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan, under whose leadership the investigations took place, warned that drug importation creates a wide channel for large volumes of unapproved drugs and other products to enter the United States that are potentially injurious to public health and pose a threat to the security of our Nations drug supply.
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Testimony/ucm115171.htm
From a public health standpoint, importing prescription drugs for personal use is a potentially dangerous practice. FDA and the public have no assurance that unapproved products are effective or safe, or have been produced under U.S. good manufacturing practices. FDA cannot assure the public that re-imported drugs made in the U.S. have been stored under proper conditions or that they are even the real product, because the Agency does not regulate foreign distributors or pharmacies. Therefore, unapproved drugs and re-imported approved medications may be contaminated, subpotent, superpotent, or counterfeit. In addition, some websites based outside the U.S. offer to dispense prescription drugs without a prescription by a licensed practitioner or a physical examination, bypassing the traditional doctor-patient relationship. As a result, patients may receive inappropriate medications due to misdiagnoses, they may fail to receive appropriate medications or other medical care, or they may take a product that could be harmful, or fatal, if taken in combination with other medicines they might be taking.