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Federal Document Clearing House
Congressional Testimony
March 21, 2000, Tuesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1014 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY March 21, 2000 CHRISTOPHER J. DODD SENATOR SENATE
HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR & PENSIONS INTERNET PHARMACIES
BODY:
STATEMENT OF SENATOR CHRISTOPHER J. DODD
E-DRUGS - WHO REGULATES INTERNET PHARMACIES MARCH 21, 2000 Mr. Chairman, thank
you for holding this hearing on the issues raised by the recent proliferation of
internet pharmacies. As with most of the recent advances in technology over the
past decade, the ability to shop over the internet has brought with it new
benefits and new worries. Customers can now buy almost any conceivable product
-from paper clips to pet food -without ever leaving home. While many of us
applaud the advantages that e-commerce has provided, when it comes to the
purchase of products with a direct and immediate impact on health and safety
-such as prescription drugs -we must seriously consider the price we're willing
to pay for convenience. In many cases, obtaining prescription
drugs over the internet is perfectly safe and legal. Some
online pharmacies have adopted all the safeguards of traditional pharmacies,
such as hiring licensed pharmacists and requiring valid prescriptions before
dispensing drugs. However, increasingly, unscrupulous companies have used the
anonymity of cyberspace to hide from federal and state safety regulations,
placing the health of their customers at serious risk. Unfortunately, these
unethical companies can easily take advantage of the fact that, too often as
consumers we leave our commonsense behind when we turn on our computers. Too
often, we assume that simply because a business has a website, it must be
legitimate. Consequently, we've received hundreds of reports of
internet pharmacies selling powerful
prescription drugs to consumers simply on the basis of answers
to a health questionnaire - without the patient ever setting foot in a doctor's
office. This practice, which has been condemned as unethical by the American
Medical Association, places patients at serious risk for misdiagnoses and
dangerous drug interactions. We've also heard of instances of unscrupulous
companies using the internet to sell drugs not approved by the Food and Drug
Administration or products that may not have been manufactured according to the
FDA's stringent standards for quality and purity. We've also received troubling
evidence that some health websites may be failing to safeguard the privacy of
their customers' sensitive medical information, and may even be selling the
information given to them in trust to other companies for marketing purposes. I
applaud the Administration for their leadership on this issue and their
willingness to put a proposal on the table. While this Committee will still need
to grapple with important questions about the respective roles of the federal
government, states and the industry in regulating internet pharmacies, I think
what is very clear is that doing nothing is not an option. We should ensure that
legitimate pharmacies can continue to serve their customers on the information
superhighway but we need to act immediately to derail those who would use the
internet in unsafe or illicit ways. Thank you, Mr. Chairman for convening this
hearing. I look forward to hearing the testimony of our witnesses.
LOAD-DATE: March 24, 2000, Friday
