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Seniors: Where drugs imported vital

Date Added: 19-04-2005

WASHINGTON -- Almost eight out of 10 Louisiana senior citizens say they are opposed to importing prescription drugs from any country except Canada.
The findings of the recent poll were released by The Seniors Coalition, a conservative group based in Fairfax, Va., with 4 million members nationwide, including 250,000 in Louisiana.

The results fly in the face of recent legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., which would allow drug importation from 25 industrialized nations.

"It does matter to people where the drugs are coming from outside the United States," said pollster Elaine Gansz Bobo of Luntz Research Companies, who conducted the poll.

The telephone survey of 400 randomly selected seniors over age 60 throughout the state was conducted on March 30 and 31. The poll contains a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

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Vitter criticized the poll, saying it was supported by the prescription drug industry and assailing the way the poll questions were phrased.

"When you look at the poll on its face, it's designed to increase seniors' fears," Vitter said.

The poll found that 77 percent of respondents opposed "allowing individuals, pharmacists and drug wholesalers to purchase drugs from 20 other foreign countries such as South Africa, Slovakia, Greece, Portugal, Estonia, Latvia and the Czech Republic."

The Louisiana poll results were similar to those found nationally in a survey of 600 seniors. The Seniors Coalition conducted the Louisiana poll because it is Vitter's home state, Bobo said.

Mary M. Martin, chairwoman of the coalition, said the query was taken to gauge seniors' positions on the importation issue. Martin accused Vitter, a freshman senator, of rushing too quickly to craft legislation.

"Our seniors are unwilling to trade their health" for lower prescription drug costs, Martin said.

Richard Perkins of Baton Rouge, who serves as a Louisiana representative of the coalition, said more information is needed before any importation begins.

"When they tell you that some of these drugs are going to come from South Africa, Slovakia, Estonia and Latvia, it troubles me," Perkins, 65, said. "The quality control is not the same as it is in the United States."

Vitter's bill, the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2005, would allow consumers, pharmacists and wholesalers to purchase prescription drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at facilities in 25 industrialized countries. Currently, it is illegal to import pharmaceuticals into the United States without government approval.

Vitter said his bill contains the necessary precautions -- such as tamper-proof packaging -- to make importation safe. The nation's largest senior group, AARP, supports the legislation.

Vitter's legislation is one of four bills that have been offered in Congress. A similar bill failed in the last Congress, which ended Dec. 31. The measure died in the Senate, where Republican leaders opposed it.

The nation's largest drug lobby, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturer's Association, opposes importation as unsafe. PhRMA representatives said Wednesday that The Seniors Coalition paid for the poll, although they did share the results with the industry.

"The poll itself is pretty straightforward," PhRMA Spokesman Ken Johnson said. "PhRMA wasn't polled, seniors were."

A recent poll by The Advocate showed that two out of three Louisiana voters would support drug importation if it were from Canada.

For More Information: http://2theadvocate.com/stories/041805/new_drugs001.shtml