Policy Statement: Reimportation of Drugs

**This issue has been archived, the information on this page has not been updated since 2005.**

The Society for Women's Health Research does not support the importation or re-importation of drugs to the United States from Canada or any other countries.

While SWHR appreciates Congressional efforts to make prescription drugs more accessible and affordable, we believe that re-importation is a precarious solution. We are deeply concerned by recent reports of drug counterfeiting and tampering, as well as the potential risk that re-importing drugs could pose to the health and safety of American consumers. We understand that countries like Canada have safety requirements that are similar to those in place in the United States; however, neither the FDA nor the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has the necessary capability to regulate a foreign health system, particularly considering the increased responsibilities each agency assumed as a result of the events surrounding the September 11th tragedy.

Furthermore, re-importation legislation would overturn important provisions in the Prescription Drug Marketing Act, which were intended to protect consumers from counterfeit, adulterated or impotent medicines, and it would lower standards under the Federal Food and Drug and Cosmetic Act for imported drugs.

Women suffer disproportionately from chronic illness, depression, stroke, heart disease, and a number of other maladies, and rely on prescription drugs to alleviate their symptoms and improve their quality of life. Statistically women consume more health care services, such as doctor visits and prescription drugs, than men. In addition, because women live longer than men, women are at greater risk from potentially unsafe medication. The threat of drugs that are unsafe, counterfeit or substandard is an unacceptable risk for women, as well as men.

Re-importation is not a solution to the larger and more complex problems of Medicare and health care delivery. Millions of Americans, both women and men, would face unnecessary threats to their health and safety if re-importation legislation were enacted. The risk is simply not worth the price.