[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18327]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    IN SUPPORT OF DRUG REIMPORTATION

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, today, in The Washington Post, there was a 
story about a senior executive from Pfizer who announced that 
reimportation of pharmaceutical drugs was safe and could be worked out. 
Peter Rost, vice president of marketing for the pharmaceutical company 
Pfizer, publicly announced his support for drug reimportation.
  In addressing the issue of safety, which the pharmaceutical companies 
continue to raise as their main concern with reimportation, I want to 
quote this executive from Pfizer, ``This has been proven safe in 
Europe. The real concern about safety is about people who do not take 
drugs because they cannot afford it. The safety issue is a made-up 
story.'' This, from an executive in Pfizer Corporation.
  Mr. Speaker, today seniors are traveling to Canada and buying their 
medications there where they save up to 40 to 50 percent. Kaiser 
Foundation found that 29 percent of seniors had not filled 
prescriptions because they could not afford them.
  The issue of safety is a hoax, and when somebody tells you it is not 
about money, folks, it is about money. It is time we do right by the 
American seniors and taxpayers.

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