CBS, NBC
Ignore Fact That Drug Importation Is Illegal
Networks fail to explain
the facts behind idea for getting prescriptions from Canada.
by Todd
Drenth
June 30, 2005
CBS and NBC continue to report that drug importation may be a quick
fix for high domestic prescription drug costs while ignoring that
it is illegal and largely neglecting potential consequences.
Canada Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh announced
Wednesday June 29, 2005 that Canada cannot be the drugstore for the
United States and that Canada would begin legislative efforts to
limit exportation of prescription drugs from Canada to the United
States. The announcement returned drug reimportation, a major issue
in the 2004 election campaign, to the news.
CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer led off the
June 29, 2005, story, lamenting We pay the highest prices in the
world for prescription drugs in this country. Reporter Mika
Brzezinski followed with a summary of coverage of the issue: For
years now, we have been telling you about seniors crossing the
border to buy cheaper prescription drugs in CanadaEven entire
cities helped employees cut their drug costs by mail ordering their
prescription from Canada.
Neither Schieffer nor Brzezinski mentioned that it is
illegal to import drugs from Canada or other foreign nations. This
isnt the first time this has been downplayed or criticized by the
major networks. The NBC Nightly News report on the same night,
also neglected to make that point.
On Feb. 8 2005, the NBC Today show reported that the
Food and Drug Administration was cracking down from the angle that
some people are finding their medicines do not make it home. NBC
interviewed 81-year-old Charles Netzo who said he ordered his
prescriptions from Canada and thought it was ridiculous and
frustrating to learn the FDA had confiscated his medicine.
Its illegal to import drugs from Canada, where prices
are much lower, said NBC reporter Kevin Tibbles, Still, Netzo says
he had no choice. The Today story also featured another
unidentified man who alleged that the FDA is on the drug companies
side. And they are not on the consumers side. Matt Lauer then
interviewed Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D Ill.) who supported importation
legislation. The entire segment contained a single statement from
the FDA explaining what NBC called random seizures.
The FDA opposes reimportation because it cannot
guarantee that drugs from abroad are safe. In a
press release [1] issued
July 13, 2004, FDA Acting Commissioner Lester D. Crawford said that
The test results of our analyses offer proof positive that buying
prescription drugs online from unknown foreign sources can be a
risky business Consumers who believe they are getting equivalent
products from reputable sources are being misled and putting their
health at risk.
Networks also rarely explained why drugs are cheaper in
Canada and Europe. Unlike the United States, Canada and some
European nations regulate drug prices. Canada, has regulated the
maximum price patented drugs can be sold as determined by the
Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB).
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a
report
on drug importation [2] on April 29, 2004 where it concluded that drug
prices are a result of consumer demand, income, and government
regulation. In some places, people arent able or willing to pay the
prices Americans can, so the CBO concluded: Instead of charging a
high price and selling only a small quantity of a drug in such a
foreign market segment, patented drugmakers lower their prices.
The networks largely ignored whether drug importation
will result in a general decrease in prices. The CBO report
concluded that permitting the importation of foreign-distributed
prescription drugs would produce at most a modest reduction in
prescription drug spending in the United States. It went on to
state that over the next 10 years complete legalized drug
importation would only reduce overall drug spending by an estimated
1 percent and if limited only from Canada would produce a
negligible reduction in drug spending.