BowFromMI
November 10th, 2005, 10:27 PM
Nov 10, 9:27 PM (ET)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government has not developed an organized way to stop people from illegally importing prescription drugs, a congressional study issued Thursday said.
The Government Accountability Office said the sheer volume of imports, hidden amid the rest of the mail, has it difficult for the Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Patrol officers from locating many of them. A requirement that the FDA give notice to people whose drugs are seized has also drained resources.
People are importing such drugs, often through Web sites, in greater and greater numbers because they cost less than they do at U.S. drugstores. But the FDA says it lacks the means to determine whether the drugs are safe and authentic.
Tracking Internet-based pharmacies to their sources is also difficult, and if they are overseas they operate outside the reach of U.S. law enforcement, the report said.
It is unclear how many prescription drugs are imported illegally into the country through the mail. Some estimates from Customs officials, cited by the GAO, said hundreds or thousands of packages containing such drugs may come through daily. FDA estimates have ranged between 2 million and 20 million imports annually, the GAO said.
While an interagency task force convened to come up with solutions "has taken positive steps toward addressing issues associated with enforcing the laws on personal imports, it has not fully developed a strategic framework that would allow the task force to address many of the challenges we identify in this report," the GAO said.
In a statement, Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., said the report shows "the agencies most responsible for stopping this chaos are completely out of ideas."
Importing these drugs "is a clear violation of federal law, yet people are willing to take a risk because they are desperate for cheaper medicines," said Dingell, who commissioned the report along with Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn. "If this fact does not sound an alarm to the administration that something is desperately wrong with how we deliver affordable medicines to our citizens, then apparently nothing will."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government has not developed an organized way to stop people from illegally importing prescription drugs, a congressional study issued Thursday said.
The Government Accountability Office said the sheer volume of imports, hidden amid the rest of the mail, has it difficult for the Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Patrol officers from locating many of them. A requirement that the FDA give notice to people whose drugs are seized has also drained resources.
People are importing such drugs, often through Web sites, in greater and greater numbers because they cost less than they do at U.S. drugstores. But the FDA says it lacks the means to determine whether the drugs are safe and authentic.
Tracking Internet-based pharmacies to their sources is also difficult, and if they are overseas they operate outside the reach of U.S. law enforcement, the report said.
It is unclear how many prescription drugs are imported illegally into the country through the mail. Some estimates from Customs officials, cited by the GAO, said hundreds or thousands of packages containing such drugs may come through daily. FDA estimates have ranged between 2 million and 20 million imports annually, the GAO said.
While an interagency task force convened to come up with solutions "has taken positive steps toward addressing issues associated with enforcing the laws on personal imports, it has not fully developed a strategic framework that would allow the task force to address many of the challenges we identify in this report," the GAO said.
In a statement, Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., said the report shows "the agencies most responsible for stopping this chaos are completely out of ideas."
Importing these drugs "is a clear violation of federal law, yet people are willing to take a risk because they are desperate for cheaper medicines," said Dingell, who commissioned the report along with Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn. "If this fact does not sound an alarm to the administration that something is desperately wrong with how we deliver affordable medicines to our citizens, then apparently nothing will."