Page 1 of 1

Al Qaida's Prozac....

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 5:52 pm
by Vander
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... rugs_x.htm
FDA fears terrorists may target food, drugs

WASHINGTON (AP) â?? Tampering with prescription drugs could be a way for terrorists to launch an attack on Americans, acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester Crawford said Wednesday.

Crawford said in an interview with The Associated Press that possible action by terrorists was the most serious of his concerns about the increasing efforts of states and cities to import drugs from Canada to save money.

Would-be terrorists need only poke around the Internet to learn how Tylenol, then the nation's leading painkiller, was removed from shelves, filled with cyanide and returned to stores to kill unsuspecting consumers two decades ago.

"I would think that's something they would be looking at," Crawford said of terrorists. "Nothing like that has happened," he added. "But it is a source of continuing concern."

A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department said it has received "no specific information" of such a threat.
We can't import the cheap generic drugs Canadians are using because they might be use for a terrorist attack! Am I being too cynical in thinking that this is a dishonest ploy meant to scare people away from wanting to obtain cheaper medications from abroad?

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 5:54 pm
by Birdseye
terrorism can and will be used to justify practically anything contreversial. Those who don't agree will be labeled unpatriotic america haters.

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 6:17 pm
by Avder
So I'm unpatriotic because as soon as I lose my current medical coverage and have to buy perscriptions full prive, I'll probably turn to a cheap canadian mail order company. Sheesh, endorse the drug companies a little louder why dont you.

Everyone and their dogs know that the FDA is in the pocket of the big pharmaceutical companies an that canadian reimportation is nothing more than a threat to their opressive business model.

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 6:28 pm
by bash
You're all unpatriotic America haters. :P

Boom! Moderator sinks Jeff's battleship.

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 7:18 pm
by Krom
Birdseye wrote:terrorism can and will be used to justify practically anything contreversial. Those who don't agree will be labeled unpatriotic america haters.
Aggreed. Even in the unlikely event we got rid of all the terrorists, we would still be stuck with terrorism forver. Terrorism from within.

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 8:00 pm
by MehYam
I've also heard that terrorists are targeting tax evaders, law breakers, democrats, and people who buy French wines.

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 8:09 pm
by Birdseye
yeah but you'll never hear that the weapons we export might help terrorism

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 8:50 pm
by bash
It's evil Canadian globalization, I tells ya. :oops:

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 9:40 pm
by Viralphrame
Avder wrote: Everyone and their dogs know that the FDA is in the pocket of the big pharmaceutical companies an that canadian reimportation is nothing more than a threat to their opressive business model.
Let's not forget the flying saucers and aliens in Area 51. :(

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 9:49 pm
by Will Robinson
No you are not too cynical, you are probably dead on and whichever representatives start singing that song are the ones who have the most drug company money in their pockets. Like they say, follow the money!

I don't think it will really work as an effective means of scaring the voters away from the drug importation plan though. It does work to expose the congressmen who are both, dumb enough to think it will, AND on the drug company campain donation plan.

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 10:08 pm
by Avder
Amazing. A right winger agrees with me....I think.

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 11:47 pm
by Kyouryuu
The whole notion that safe prescription drugs in Canada, when imported into the US, are suddenly toxic and deadly is asinine - advanced by politicians with ulterior motives and corporate bribery.

The FDA wants to feel important. Terrorists are planning to enter their domain. They want to protect us from those dangerous Canadian drugs. They want to wheel and deal with Merck and Roche.

Personally, I think it's frightening that the government commission designed to protect the best interests of Americans is so corrupted by big business. In my opinion, when a faction of the government no longer operates in the best interests of the people, it should be torn down.

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:08 am
by Ferno
i took one look at the article title and pretty much concluded that it's nothing more than a scare tactic.

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 7:11 am
by Will Robinson
Avder wrote:Amazing. A right winger agrees with me....I think.
I don't care which wing of the aircraft you're on as long as you fly right your ok with me ;)
It's when the left wing drops their flaps while the rest of us are trying to ascend that I get pissed off!

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 8:25 am
by DCrazy
When you buy (Canadian) drugs, you are supporting terrorism. A message from the Ad Council.

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:56 pm
by Avder
Who the hell *IS* the Ad council, whose payroll are they under, and who authorized them anyway?

I hate those guys.

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 9:17 pm
by kurupt
someone slipping some nasty ★■◆● into some prescriptions doesn't seem all that impossible to me. i don't think we should completely dismiss the notion just because the politician who spews it is obviously in the pocket of some pharmecutical companies.

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 9:58 pm
by Will Robinson
The idea that the drugs are somehow safe from tampering as long as they aren't imported from canada is where the 'notion' parts company with reality.

Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2004 12:58 pm
by Vander
The funny thing about this is that the logical solution would be to allow people to purchase directly from legitimate retailers, thereby lowering the threat of black market tampering.

Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2004 3:33 pm
by Birdseye
hey come on now, no logic in here, please

Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2004 7:20 pm
by Ford Prefect
Right on Birdseye there is no place here for logic. :wink:

Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2004 7:23 pm
by DCrazy
Vander wrote:The funny thing about this is that the logical solution would be to allow people to purchase directly from legitimate retailers, thereby lowering the threat of black market tampering.
Not quite... then there will be massive lawsuits when people order the wrong thing. Pharmacists exist to make sure you get the proper dosage and that they haven't given you anything that might react badly with what they're about to give you. That's why companies like Walgreens build drug histories.

Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2004 7:32 pm
by Ford Prefect
Since you don't "order" what you want but only pass on your doctors prescription. That is not really a problem Dcrazy. And, like any legitimate drug dispenser they give written information and keep records of what you have bought from them in the past to keep an eye out for possible conflicts.

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 2:52 pm
by Birdseye
Good comments, Ford.

Dcrazy, do you like protectionist economics? That's all this amounts to.

I personally breathed a sigh of relief when Bush finally dropped steel tariffs.

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 3:36 pm
by DCrazy
I personally don't mind Walgreen's keeping a list of all the drugs they've ever sold me. I can request a printed copy of this list and hand it to my doctor in the event that he needs to prescribe me medication that has known interactions with other drugs. It's a service that I pay for when I buy drugs from Walgreen's, that's all the economics that come into play here.

I think I misunderstood "legitimate retailers" to mean drug companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, in an effort to "cut out the middle man".

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 8:45 pm
by kufyit
We need protection from our economists these days, that's for sure.

Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 12:22 pm
by Instig8
Sounds like the boogie man who's out to get ya.

Better watch out!
/sarcasm

Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 5:46 pm
by Birdseye
Ah DC, thought you were against candian drug importation. My mistake, apologies.