MarkMonitor that is.
Congress may soon consider legislation that would allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from foreign countries. Lawmakers who plan to vote for it should first read a new report on online pharmacies published by the respected Internet fraud expert MarkMonitor.
Published in August while Congress was on vacation, it found that of the 3,160 online pharmacies it studied, almost all of them were likely selling fake medicine.
This shocking finding should cause the congressional supporters of drug importation to change their minds, as many of their constituents will be turning to such websites for their prescriptions if the bill becomes law.
Here's a taste:
"The FDA has caught a number of pharmacies that claimed to be based in Canada -- but were operated out of China and sold medicine that was manufactured there. It's not clear how many online pharmacies are doing this, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the number is large. MarkMonitor found that 18 percent of the Web sites it evaluated were based in China, and that 12 percent were in the former Soviet Union."
And here's a link to an op-ed from today's Detroit News ...
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070920/OPINION01/709200323/1008
Unsafe online pharmacies would be among the first to capitalize on legalized importation. If Americans care about their safety, they ought to log off online pharmacies. And lawmakers ought to shut down their push for drug importation.
Congress may soon consider legislation that would allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from foreign countries. Lawmakers who plan to vote for it should first read a new report on online pharmacies published by the respected Internet fraud expert MarkMonitor.
Published in August while Congress was on vacation, it found that of the 3,160 online pharmacies it studied, almost all of them were likely selling fake medicine.
This shocking finding should cause the congressional supporters of drug importation to change their minds, as many of their constituents will be turning to such websites for their prescriptions if the bill becomes law.
Here's a taste:
"The FDA has caught a number of pharmacies that claimed to be based in Canada -- but were operated out of China and sold medicine that was manufactured there. It's not clear how many online pharmacies are doing this, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the number is large. MarkMonitor found that 18 percent of the Web sites it evaluated were based in China, and that 12 percent were in the former Soviet Union."
And here's a link to an op-ed from today's Detroit News ...
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070920/OPINION01/709200323/1008
Unsafe online pharmacies would be among the first to capitalize on legalized importation. If Americans care about their safety, they ought to log off online pharmacies. And lawmakers ought to shut down their push for drug importation.
