The New FDA Raid: Internet Pharmacies

Author: Sara Hilbert

Most Americans would agree that the FDA has failed us in many ways, from overregulation of products to under-regulation of many more.  On one side, researchers claim bad reactions to FDA-approved prescription drugs kill or seriously injure many Americans every year. On the other side, pharmaceutical companies are quick to push the FDA to approve their new drugs. Without effective research and studies on the long-term effects of these products, the consumer becomes the lab rat under the FDA stamp of approval.

Senator Judd Gregg is sponsoring S.596, a bill “To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide for the regulation of Internet Pharmacies.” Certainly, unlicensed people have web sites that are unregulated and could be contaminated or modified. Some online hoaxes could cause more harm to the patient, and is why this bill would increase enforcement on licensing laws and inspection requirements. However, many more internet pharmacies verify the prescription and prescribing doctor, are more convenient, more affordable, and follow up on the patient than walk-in pharmacies are commonly criticized for.

“The FDA serves as the pharmaceutical industry’s watchdog, which can be called upon to attack and destroy a potential competitor under the guise of protecting the public,” says James P. Carter, M.D. The FDA’s new focus on these internet pharmaceutical providers seems to become interference for competition of pharmaceutical pharmacies than if they were left to their own devices. The FDA’s new focus on these internet pharmaceutical providers not only would cause uproar among online pharmacies, but would also set precedence for a new level of government intervention across the web. This bill would leave the door wide open for other governmental agencies to step-in when deemed most convenient and regulate other areas of commerce, most likely including EPA-related affairs and online tax consulting companies by the ever-efficient IRS. If S.596 were to pass, be prepared for widespread adoption of increased government intervention across the net and yet another example of where the FDA becomes exactly what it claims it claiming to defeat.