STATEMENT OF EDWARD M. KENNEDY ON E-DRUGS:
WHO REGULATES INTERNET
PHARMACIES?
March 21, 2000
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jim Manley
(202)
224-2633
I commend the Chairman for holding today's important hearing. The
Internet is transforming all aspects of our society, including health
care. The subject of today's hearing -- Internet pharmacies -- offers
convenience and an opportunity for privacy for consumers buying on-line,
while providing expanded access to prescription drugs and health care
professionals.
The Internet also creates new opportunities, however, for scam artists
and unprincipled suppliers to market contaminated, expired, inappropriate,
or counterfeit medications to unsuspecting patients. The very qualities
that attract many consumers to the Internet -- its broad, even global
reach and its privacy -- also serve to hamper law enforcement efforts to
deal with illegal activities.
So far, existing federal and state laws have had only limited success
in protecting consumers. Some physicians issue prescriptions for patients
they have never seen, let alone seriously examined. Patients can buy
prescription drugs off the Internet without adequate safeguards that the
drug is appropriate and of high quality. Because websites can be easily
created and designed, patients may think they have purchased their
medication from a U.S.-licensed pharmacy when, in fact, they have not. The
prescription drugs they receive may be sold out of someone's garage or
from a business in a country with low standards for how drugs are
manufactured, stored, or shipped.
All of us recognize the benefits of the Internet. None of us wants to
stifle advances in technology and telecommunications. In the past, when
new communication systems such as the telephone were used for illegal
purposes, Congress responded by enacting reasonable consumer protections.
We should be prepared to do the same with this kind of illegal conduct on
the Internet. Protections are needed, especially when improper activities
threaten patients' health.
Today, we will hear about actions being taken by the Food and Drug
Administration and the States to protect the American public from illegal
on-line sellers and prescribers of pharmaceuticals. Traditionally, the
States have regulated the practice of pharmacy and the practice of
medicine. They have the experts and the experience necessary to oversee
these professions. But they lack the resources to monitor the Internet and
identify illegal on-line operators, and they cannot shut down an
illegitimate website that operates from another State or overseas.
Clearly, there are opportunities here for federal-state cooperation to
enhance the protections afforded consumers. Additional investigative and
enforcement tools should also be considered. With computer software
changing at an astonishing rate, we cannot allow unscrupulous individuals
to have a technological advantage over law enforcement officials.
Some consumers use the Internet to purchase cut-rate medications from
overseas because they lack insurance coverage and can't afford the high
prices of U.S. prescription drugs. But the risk of receiving a
contaminated or counterfeit drug is higher when buying medications from
foreign websites, because many other countries do not require drugs to be
manufactured, stored, and distributed under the high standards required in
the United States. Most consumers have no recourse against a foreign
website if they are harmed by a medication or fail to receive a medication
they paid for.
These issues are complex. I look forward to today's testimony, and to
working with my colleagues to provide the protections that our consumers
and patients deserve. | 