Administration cracking down on foreign pharmaceuticals

[Guest guest]

So it SEEMS that the regime is DEEPLY interested in stopping CHEAPER LEGAL DRUGS

from coming across the border, but NOT CHEAPER ILLEGAL ALIENS.

 

Feds Remove Foreign Drugs Arriving In MiamiFifty million packages of

pharmaceuticals from other countries come into the U.S. through the mail. Much

of the pharmaceuticals are unapproved, counterfeit, or fraudulent which puts

American consumers at serious health risk.

Friday, the Food and Drug Administration announced results of a 3-day drug

inspection blitz at the Miami International Mail Facility, located at 11698 NW

25th Street in West Miami-Dade.

The FDA, along with Customs and Border Patrol and the U.S. Postal Service

conducted 'Operation Safeguard " , which had dozens of agents poring through piles

of packages filled with illegal pharmaceutical drugs, dietary supplements and

home remedies mailed from foreign countries.

Most of the unapproved medicines were sent from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The drugs are often purchased over the Internet which makes it difficult to

determine whether they have safe ingredients, accurate dosages or correct

expiration dates.

Agents found vitamins containing Xanax and Valium; they found birth control

pills where the expiration date had been changed; and much more.

" You're basically rolling the dice and you don't know what you're getting, " said

Customs agent Castellano. " They are not approved and they are counterfeit

because a lot of the time when you order something over the Internet you don't

know what you are getting. "

After the 3-day blitz, the vast majority of intercepted pharmaceuticals, diet

pills and home remedies will be returned to sender. The U.S. has no authority to

destroy them, according to the FDA.

In the United States, the incidence of counterfeit medicines is less than

1-percent. However, medicines purchased over the Internet, where the physical

address of the seller is often concealed, are counterfeit in over 50-percent of

cases. These drugs are risky because the consumer doesn't know what they are

getting. In some cases they have been lethal.

" Products that are intended to be injected, of course, those need to be

sterile, " said Elder of the FDA. " But if we don't know how they were

manufactured, then we haven't had the opportunity to review them for safety and

efficacy. People may be injecting drugs into their bodies without any assurance

of their safety or effectiveness. "

If you need to buy medicine over the internet, be sure to follow these quick

tips from the FDA.

* Make sure the site requires a prescription and has a pharmacist available for

questions.

* Buy only from licensed pharmacies located in the United States. The National

Association of Boards of Pharmacy has more information about licensing and its

program to certify online pharmacies.

* Don't provide personal information such as credit card numbers unless you are

sure the site will protect them.