U.S. Customs and FDA Issue Imported Medication Warning

elchrist

If you've recently entered into the United States of America through either of the port of entries located on the international borders of Mexico or Canada, then you most likely received the following message printed on a leaflet issued by the United States Department of Homeland Security on behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

Caution!

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are concerned that medications you purchase abroad may present health risks.

Looks can be deceiving.

The medicine you buy across the borders may be unsafe or ineffective.

It's not worth risking your health!

Medication imported into the United States is subject to testing and may be seized.

[U.S. Department of Homeland Security Logo]
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
FDA

As I drove off briefly after being excused by the customs agent, I glanced over the flyer and wondered if this message was greatly influenced by pharmaceutical industry lobbyists. It was an honest assumption as I've recently read and heard about the FDA attempting to stifle the purchasing of medication from Canada, primarily via Internet storefronts.

Is the goverment looking after the best interest of it's citizens or it's corporations?

As the cost of healthcare skyrockets for Americans, should their right to seek inexpensive prescription alternatives to relieve their ailments be revoked, especially as a large number of consumers continue to lose their employment or take drastic paycuts to simply afford surviving in this modern age? The answer should be no.

This message being distilled to Americans by it's goverment is ridiculous. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people in need cannot afford to pay the outrageously high prescriptions costs which exist in this nation. Whether it's senior citizens, snowbirds, the poor or illegal immigrants, the cost of medication these days is very unaffordable and usually leave these same people literally starving just to survive thanks to the monstrous profiting by this industry.

I personally don't believe that the FDA and company are attempting to protect Americans from these drugs purchased abroad due to potential "health risks," but only to protect these conglomerates' placement in the stock markets.

revramrod

It is painfully obvious that this is a move to appease the pharmaceutical lobby, under the guise of a public health initiative.

American citizens have been purchasing medication in Canada and Mexico for decades, and this becomes an issue with the US government now? At exactly that same time that American pharmaceutical companies are kicking and screaming about profit losses due to oversea medication purchases?

What a crock.

verbal · Posted: 18 Feb 2004 12:25 PM Post subject:

My take is that companies like Pfizer and other giants have been complaining (lobbying) to Congress about how they are losing revenue to foreign markets. For years people have been going either south or north of the border for their meds.

Steroids have been a social dilemma for years, but you really don't hear anything being done to stop people from coming and buying an illegal substance. 60 minutes, Dateline, AP reports have pointed out the obvious, but the government has looked the other way. That all stopped when crazy ass old horn dogs started getting their blue pill in farmacias or in Canada.

What the government should really focus is creating a price ceiling on new FDA approved medicines.

Provazec.

spic-ole · Posted: 18 Feb 2004 11:18 PM Post subject:

There will never be a price cap on prescription medicine. It's too big an industry. As long as there are still programs like Medi-Care/Cal, and good insurance benefits from private and government organizations that are willing to fork over the cash for the medication, the sky is the limit on prices.

The only way there will be some kind of restrictions is with generic drugs, and with people paying for their own medication. When no one has enough money to buy the drugs, these companies will have to lower their prices.