Saturday, May 19, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Do you know where your prescription drugs come from?
Here's a little known fact: The number of drugs manufactured outside the US has doubled between 2001 and 2008, and currently nearly 40% of all drugs taken by Americans come from overseas. Alarmingly, almost 80% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used to make our drugs come from abroad-mainly China and India.
So, it's buyer beware. But, how are we to know? The FDA does regulate this process, but is woefully understaffed, and the result is the foreign drug manufacturers are not held to the same high standards as US producers.
Fake, ineffective chemotherapy drugs and tainted, potentially lethal drugs (like Heparin that killed several people 3 years ago), are part of our new reality.
Other than urging our government to take action and step up the inspection of foreign manufacturing facilities, we can become proactive in taking care of our health so that we minimize our need for prescription medications, no matter where they are manufactured or how pure they may be. Let's not forget that even the best manufacturing processes can't eliminate the potential side effects of prescription drugs.
Taking action in the form of small, sustainable lifestyle changes, beginning with good nutrition, will go a long way in disease prevention, and minimizing or eliminating the need for potentially contaminated or ineffective prescription drugs.
reference: CNN.com, Feb. 2012
So, it's buyer beware. But, how are we to know? The FDA does regulate this process, but is woefully understaffed, and the result is the foreign drug manufacturers are not held to the same high standards as US producers.
Fake, ineffective chemotherapy drugs and tainted, potentially lethal drugs (like Heparin that killed several people 3 years ago), are part of our new reality.
Other than urging our government to take action and step up the inspection of foreign manufacturing facilities, we can become proactive in taking care of our health so that we minimize our need for prescription medications, no matter where they are manufactured or how pure they may be. Let's not forget that even the best manufacturing processes can't eliminate the potential side effects of prescription drugs.
Taking action in the form of small, sustainable lifestyle changes, beginning with good nutrition, will go a long way in disease prevention, and minimizing or eliminating the need for potentially contaminated or ineffective prescription drugs.
reference: CNN.com, Feb. 2012
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