| Despite the Administration's ardent free trade position in almost every other area, it continues to say seniors should not be allowed to freely import FDA-approved medicines because drugs from Canada are supposedly "unsafe." Of course, the Administration "can't name a single American who has been injured or killed by drugs bought from licensed Canadian pharmacies." McCain said McClellan has done "a great disservice" to Americans by trying to scare them with a safety red-herring. Now, with no proof to substantiate the Administration's opposition to reimportation and polls showing overwhelming public support for the concept, questions are boiling about whether federal health policy has become wholly dictated by the pharmaceutical industry. |
This is still a question for some people.
| McCain has repeatedly asked McClellan to explain his opposition to reimportation, but McClellan "has twice refused invitations to speak on reimportation before McCain's Commerce Committee" and just yesterday, CongressDaily reported that Bush Administration health officials refused to discuss the issue with Senators, and instead went to "a meeting sponsored by reimportation opponents." |
With their fingers in their ears chanting, "La-la-la-la-la. We can't hear you."
| The Administration and its allies have taken in millions in campaign contributions from the industry, reaping more than $30 million in one night in 2002. The previous Medicare Administrator, Tom Scully, is now a lobbyist for the health care industry. And McClellan's coziness with the drug companies was recently highlighted when he accepted an award from an industry front group. Meanwhile, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), the principle author of the recent Medicare bill, is reportedly negotiating a multi-million dollar contract to become the drug industry's top lobbyist. At the Medicare bill signing last fall, photographers captured a $14 million picture of those in the pockets of the industry's special interests.
...Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) and Gov. Jim Doyle (D-WI) this week moved forward with websites linking to Canadian pharmacies, despite a threatening letter by the FDA warning them that the sites were somehow "unsafe." But as Pawlenty famously asked the FDA, "Show me the dead Canadians. Where are the dead Canadians?" |
And there you have your rallying cry you old folks who got scammed on the Medicare bill.
An Illinois couple has a lawsuit pending claiming it's unlawful for the government to prevent them from buying affordable drugs from Canada. This isn't over yet. But, hey, Big Pharma has deep, deep, deep pockets of its own, not to mention hands in a whole bunch of politicians' pockets as well.
And, precisely like the WMD Hogwash Commission, Bush has appointed a panel to "conduct a yearlong study of how prescription drugs might be safely imported from Canada" (gee, I don't know....trucks with good brakes?), and has chosen Mark McClellan (brother to WH Press Secty Scott), a rabid opponent of reimportation, to head it!
What a freaking joke.
I hope by now you weren't expecting anything else.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
Wait a minute....I need to keep my commissions straight....
The 9/11 Worthless Commission
The WMD Pointless Commission, and
The Plame Whitewash Commission
I don't think we have a Hogwash Commission yet.
Give it a couple of weeks.
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