boutons_
07-12-2006, 12:05 PM
This will probably be reversed, dropped, or otherwise gutted with many $Ms from the pharmaceuticals industry/lobbyists, after the November elections, at latest. The pharms probably aren't worreid now now because they know they will always be able buy enough Congressman, sooner or later, to fuck over/over charge patients needing drugs.
This is just another bogus election year litmus-test vote, like flag-burining and same-sex marriage, that allows candidates to be able say to their constituencies that the candidate is "pro-consitutuent" when in fact the candidate is first, last, and alwasy, only pro-himself.
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July 12, 2006
Senate Backs Allowing Drugs From Canada
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, July 11 — The Senate moved Tuesday toward opening the way for Americans to import prescription drugs from Canada (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/canada/index.html?inline=nyt-geo), where the medications, even those manufactured in the United States, are generally cheaper.
The proposal, approved 68 to 32, would create a loophole, applying only to drugs from Canada, in a Food and Drug Administration (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/food_and_drug_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org) ban on importing prescription medicine into the United States. It was offered as part of a $31.7 billion spending blueprint for the Homeland Security Department (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/homeland_security_department/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
But aides said that as in past years, the provision was likely to be removed when the legislation got to a conference committee of House and Senate lawmakers who will negotiate the final version.
While importing drugs into the United States is illegal, the F.D.A. has generally not stopped small amounts for personal use. But Customs and Border Protection, a bureau of the Homeland Security Department, began aggressively seizing Tamiflu, Viagra and other medications at borders in November.
Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican who sponsored the newly approved proposal, was joined by Democrats (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/d/democratic_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org). But like the Bush administration, some Congressional Republicans (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org) oppose loosening the restrictions, saying imported drugs might not only be unsafe for consumers but also pose a terrorism risk.
Referring to a leading cholesterol-lowering drug, Senator Judd Gregg (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/judd_gregg/index.html?inline=nyt-per) of New Hampshire said, “If I were a creative terrorist, I would say to myself, ‘Hey, listen, all I’ve got to do is produce a can here that says ‘Lipitor’ on it, make it look like the original Lipitor bottle, which isn’t too hard to do, fill it with anthrax.’ ”
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Judd Gregg really thinks Canadian drug firms and supply chains and drug packaging are any less controlled and monitored than US pharmaceutical channels? GMAFB.
Confirms that anybody named "Judd" (same type of name as Jeb) is just a rural good ol' boy jingoistically rousing the rabble with phony "nat sec" scare jobs.
This is just another bogus election year litmus-test vote, like flag-burining and same-sex marriage, that allows candidates to be able say to their constituencies that the candidate is "pro-consitutuent" when in fact the candidate is first, last, and alwasy, only pro-himself.
===============
July 12, 2006
Senate Backs Allowing Drugs From Canada
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, July 11 — The Senate moved Tuesday toward opening the way for Americans to import prescription drugs from Canada (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/canada/index.html?inline=nyt-geo), where the medications, even those manufactured in the United States, are generally cheaper.
The proposal, approved 68 to 32, would create a loophole, applying only to drugs from Canada, in a Food and Drug Administration (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/food_and_drug_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org) ban on importing prescription medicine into the United States. It was offered as part of a $31.7 billion spending blueprint for the Homeland Security Department (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/homeland_security_department/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
But aides said that as in past years, the provision was likely to be removed when the legislation got to a conference committee of House and Senate lawmakers who will negotiate the final version.
While importing drugs into the United States is illegal, the F.D.A. has generally not stopped small amounts for personal use. But Customs and Border Protection, a bureau of the Homeland Security Department, began aggressively seizing Tamiflu, Viagra and other medications at borders in November.
Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican who sponsored the newly approved proposal, was joined by Democrats (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/d/democratic_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org). But like the Bush administration, some Congressional Republicans (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org) oppose loosening the restrictions, saying imported drugs might not only be unsafe for consumers but also pose a terrorism risk.
Referring to a leading cholesterol-lowering drug, Senator Judd Gregg (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/judd_gregg/index.html?inline=nyt-per) of New Hampshire said, “If I were a creative terrorist, I would say to myself, ‘Hey, listen, all I’ve got to do is produce a can here that says ‘Lipitor’ on it, make it look like the original Lipitor bottle, which isn’t too hard to do, fill it with anthrax.’ ”
==============
Judd Gregg really thinks Canadian drug firms and supply chains and drug packaging are any less controlled and monitored than US pharmaceutical channels? GMAFB.
Confirms that anybody named "Judd" (same type of name as Jeb) is just a rural good ol' boy jingoistically rousing the rabble with phony "nat sec" scare jobs.