[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14422]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             PATIENT SAFETY AND FOREIGN PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about patient safety 
and the trade policy of this country as it relates to foreign 
prescription drugs.
  If I correctly recall, and do not trust my memory, we can all look it 
up, back in March of this year this House overwhelmingly approved a 
bill that would improve patient safety and improve the quality of care 
delivered in this country. Some of my colleagues have asked us to 
consider a plan of imported foreign prescription drugs into this 
country that would run counter to the vote cast by a majority in this 
House not 4 months ago.
  Mr. Speaker, we must approach this problem with thoughtfulness and 
logic. If we want to address the cost of prescription drugs in this 
country, we can take several approaches to lower the cost, but any 
options should not come at the cost of patient safety. Some in this 
House believe that if Americans had the ability to purchase their drugs 
from Canada or Mexico or Belize or Europe or Mars, that the United 
States market would adjust and reflect the importation of cheaper 
medicines. But let us be clear, foreign countries place price controls 
on their prescription drugs.
  This means that the drugs purchased by Canadian citizens may be 
priced lower than that which an American citizen will pay for the same 
compound because of that government's artificial market intervention; 
but by permitting the reimportation of drugs into this country, we 
effectively allow the importation of foreign price controls into the 
United States market as well. This could be shortsighted, and it does 
run counter to the free market system that is established in this 
country. If drug reimportation becomes the established policy in this 
country, the United States would in essence be allowing foreign 
governments to set the prices for American products.
  If we truly believe in the power of the free market, we should remove 
the market distortion of foreign price controls which ensure that 
America's seniors and America's uninsured pay the highest price for 
their medications. And what happens in countries that have adopted 
price controls? Companies have left those countries. High-skilled jobs 
are not available, and governments have lost much-needed revenue.
  Because of the stranglehold of regulation in European countries, 
including price controls on pharmaceuticals, Europe is lagging behind 
in its ability to generate, organize, sustain innovative processes that 
are increasingly expensive and organizationally complex. The United 
States biotech industry in the last decade has had a meteoric rise, but 
we would place a chill on the industry's development if we allowed 
foreign drug prices to stymie its growth.
  More importantly, if we inject foreign drug prices and controls into 
the United States, we will see less innovation in this very promising 
new field of science. Most importantly, underlying all of the complex 
trade issues is one that ultimately impacts us all, and that is patient 
safety. We want to ensure that the drugs that our wives, children, 
mothers, and fathers take are free of dangerous substances and that 
they work as advertised. Only our FDA in this country can ensure the 
safety of drugs for American citizens.
  I think this House would be shirking its duty if we created a system 
that relied upon the action of regulatory officials of Canada, 
Thailand, Belize, or Barbados to ensure the safety of American 
patients. Allowing drug reimportation from foreign countries would only 
be a signal to foreign drug counterfeiters that it is open season on 
the health and safety of American citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, I could relate stories from my medical practice where 
patients had what may be politely termed as therapeutic misadventures 
by the ingestion of drugs which were imported illegally from Mexico. 
The House can approach the drug cost issues through far less 
shortsighted solutions than permitting drug importation from foreign 
countries.
  Make no mistake, the pharmaceutical companies in this country have an 
obligation to control their costs and be certain that any profits they 
receive are reasonable. Without this, we will continue to hear the 
arguments for reimportation nightly on the House floor. The purchasing 
power of the Federal Government should bring down the cost of safe 
pharmaceuticals in this country.
  Mr. Speaker, we should remember the admonition of a long-ago 
physician to first do no harm. In this House, that would be wise 
counsel to heed.

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