Friday, May 2, 2008

Where Big Pharma Gets Their Poison Pills

This from the government that CARES ABOUT YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!

"Sooooooooooooooooo lemme see if I have this. We are not allowed to drive up to Canada to buy cheap prescription medicines because they might not be as safe as the far more expensive medicines sold in US pharmacies ... which turn out to be contaminated imports?" -- Mike Rivero of whatreallyhappened.com

"Heparin Contamination Fiasco Reveals Dirty Secret of Drug Industry: Their Pills are Made in China!"

"Remember a couple of years ago how the FDA warned Americans not to buy prescription drugs from Canada because they might be "contaminated by terrorists?" I'm not making that up: That was the official announcement of an FDA spokesperson, and it was part of their fear strategy for enforcing a monopoly on U.S. consumers so that Big Pharma could continue engaging in rampant price fixing.

The implication in that warning is that drugs purchased in the United States are therefore safer, correct? What the FDA didn't tell anyone, however, is that most pharmaceuticals purchased in the United States are manufactured outside the U.S.; many from China or Puerto Rico. So they're not even made in the U.S. anyway, and drug companies are simply importing them from other countries just like a consumer might do if she drove across the border and bought her medications in Canada or Mexico.

But hold on: The FDA actually used to run full-page magazine ads warning consumers about the dangers of drugs being contaminated if they were bought from Mexico, Canada or -- God forbid -- the Internet! Those drugs were dangerous, the FDA warned us, because they were not subjected to rigorous quality control requirements. The implication in that warning, of course, is that brand-name pharmaceuticals sold in the U.S. at U.S. pharmacies must therefore NOT be contaminated.

Enter the blood-thinning drug Heparin. This blood-thinning drug, made by Baxter International, was recently discovered by consumers to have been manufactured in China. Worse yet, the quality controls in China were so low that this FDA approved, brand-name prescription drug was apparently deliberately contaminated with an adulterated chemical that has now resulted in the death of dozens of consumers in the United States. Sound familiar? It's precisely the scenario dreamed up by the FDA to warn consumers away from pharmaceuticals purchased in Canada, Mexico or elsewhere. But guess what? It turns out that brand-name, FDA-approved prescription drugs sold at monopoly prices right here in the United States are adulterated too!
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