Importation Legislation Plays ‘Russian Roulette’ With America’s Health

Rising prescription drug costs have Americans, especially our nation’s seniors, scrambling to find affordable medicines.  And like Pavlov’s dogs, many of our elected officials in Washington are salivating to come up with a politically expedient solution.

The perceived “fix” gaining the most steam on Capitol Hill is drug importation, which would allow individuals to import drugs from foreign countries where medicines are sold cheaper -- a practice currently illegal in the United States.   

Among the several drug importation bills pending in Congress, two of the most prominent -- one sponsored by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and another by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) -- would permit Americans to buy their medications not just from Canada, but from as many as 25 other countries including Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Portugal and Slovakia -- nations certainly not known for their leadership in drug safety.

But before moving forward, it would be wise for Congressional supporters of the Dorgan and Vitter bills to set aside their short-sightedness and pay attention to the significant safety and security dangers associated with legalizing importation. 

Top U.S. health authorities, including the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Surgeon General and every former FDA Commissioner since 1969, have all warned that drug importation would put Americans at risk by allowing fake, unregulated and tainted medicines into the U.S. drug supply.  The risks are real and serious, and sometimes life-threatening. Imports could be unapproved, outdated, mislabeled, counterfeit, contaminated, or even the wrong dosage or drug altogether. 

But those risks haven’t stopped Senators Dorgan and Vitter.  Both of their bills would permit intermingling imported drugs with American drugs -- even behind the counters at our local pharmacies -- without being labeled as such.  This would expose doctors and patients to the imported medicines without their knowledge and consent, and with no ability to opt-out of their use.  In other words, Americans would literally be forced to play Russian roulette with their health.

If that isn’t enough cause for concern, consider a recent report by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.  His 12-month investigation found that non-FDA approved drugs are already getting into the United States.  Random inspections at various airport mail facilities found that a whopping 86% to 88% of the suspected drug parcels examined contained non-FDA approved medicines from such countries as Pakistan, Mexico and Brazil. 

Coupled with the limited number of FDA investigators and Interpol’s recent confirmation that terrorist groups are using counterfeit drugs to finance their activities worldwide, it’s not surprising that the Giuliani report found that the U.S. drug supply is vulnerable to exploitation by organized criminals, drug traffickers and terrorists. 

This is one of the reasons why Giuliani concluded that “an importation system that can assure that medicines being imported are safe and effective does not appear to exist.”  It’s exactly why the FDA has expressed significant fears that terrorists could tamper with imported prescription drugs to launch an attack on the United States. 

So why are our elected officials in Washington clamoring to support drug importation?   Polls have indicated that Americans, and particularly senior citizens, generally support legalized importation as a way to reduce prescription drug costs. 

However, a recent survey commissioned by The Seniors Coalition found that America’s seniors have been misled.  Yes, seniors do support importation -- from Canada.  But when told that their drugs would be imported from nations other than Canada, an overwhelming 71 percent oppose the idea.  Seventy-two percent of seniors reject any legislation that permits importation without country-of-origin labeling.  Seventy-nine percent of Americans over 60 oppose legislation that allows imported drugs to be given to patients without their knowledge, and 75 percent believe that patients should be able to opt out.  Neither the Dorgan nor Vitter legislation addresses any of these concerns.

Everyone agrees that we need to address the problem of rising drug costs.  But it‘s clear that the significant safety and security dangers associated with importation far outweigh any potential short-term benefits.  And the issue is a political loser once voters learn the details of legislation. 

Members of Congress would be better off spending more time educating their constituents on the 275 plus private and public programs already in existence that can safely help people buy their prescriptions at more affordable prices. 

Who knows, that just might score them the political points they so desperately seek -- without sacrificing America’s health and security.