Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Madam President, I rise to speak against amendment No. 2107, the one that talks about pharmaceutical products, medicines. We know how important the prescription medicines are in improving health in this country and the need to make sure those drugs are safe and affordable. Prescription drugs have brought great advances in health outcomes. Just look at how much longer people are living. Over the past century, life expectancy increased from 49 years to 77 years. We know that beneficial drugs need to be more affordable and more readily available. But allowing drugs to enter into the United States from other countries is not the answer.

The Department of Health and Human Services found that importing prescription drugs might save 1 to 2 percent on their prescription drugs--and I am not describing that as insignificant--but these are modest savings compared to what the outcome might be.

Importing risky prescription drugs from other countries could cause more health problems, more suffering, and in the final analysis, more expensive treatments. Americans buy medicine to lower their cholesterol, fight cancer, prevent heart disease. Some of these have had remarkable effects. Heart disease is much less threatening. It is still a dangerous disease but much less than it was years ago. Imagine what would happen to a mother or a child if they were relying on imported drugs only to find out that the drugs were unsafe. We need to be absolutely certain that we are not putting Americans' lives at risk.

That is why I am opposing amendment No. 2107, the McCain amendment, which would allow potentially unsafe prescription drugs to be shipped across our border, directly into the medicine cabinets of homes throughout America. Instead of safeguarding American patients, this amendment could bring potentially dangerous and ineffective drugs from Canada. I say that because, though Canadian drugs may seem safe, we already know that drugs that claim to be from Canada are not always reliable. They are not worth the risk. An FDA investigation found that 85 percent of drugs imported from Canadian Internet pharmacies were actually from 27 other countries. Many of these were pure counterfeit.

The Senate already recognized the danger that imported drugs pose to Americans. On five previous occasions, this Chamber has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to certify that importation will not put people at risk. The Secretary still has not been able to confirm that imported drugs would be safe.

I wish to make another observation. I find it kind of amusing to watch Republican colleagues talk about how wonderful the Canadian health system is. Last I checked, Canada's health care system is socialized medicine. During the health care reform debate these same colleagues were decrying the Canadian system as a horrible socialist experiment. My colleagues need to make up their minds. Do they prefer socialized medicine? If so, it comes with some risks.

I am proud that many of our country's drugs originate in the State of New Jersey, commonly known as the Medicine Chest State. In fact, there are over 46,000 highly skilled people in my home State working to produce lifesaving drugs. It would be wrong to undercut the hard work of these trained New Jerseyans, only to put Americans in danger.

Right now the drugs in our country are safe and effective, as we have seen by the results. Thanks to Senator Harkin and Senator Enzi, this bill will even make our drugs more safe. Americans deserve real peace of mind. When they open the pill bottle and swallow their medicine, they have to know the product is safe and effective.

I urge my colleagues to support keeping medicine in our country safe and affordable. I urge the drug companies, the medicine companies, to do whatever they can to make drugs, medicines, more available at cheaper prices. I urge my colleagues to vote against amendment No. 2107.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source