Star investigation: Drug facilities allowed to self-inspect

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Star investigation: Drug facilities allowed to self-inspect
Topic Started: Jun 12 2015, 12:12 AM (263 Views)
Darcie	Jun 12 2015, 12:12 AM Post #1
Skeptic Posts: 31,154 Group: Member Member #714 Joined: March 30, 2010	This is terrifying for anyone on medication. During the last year I have had many problems with what has been old time medications and the pharmacist has had to change the brand. The list of government departments that we could have faith in as well as trust is dwindling fast. What a hole we Canadians are in, and what a job we will have to rebuild. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/06/11/star-investigation-drug-facilities-allowed-to-self-inspect.html Quote: Health Canada allows drug ingredients into the country from hundreds of pharmaceutical facilities that have not been inspected by a regulator, an ongoing Star investigation has found. Instead, nearly 300 foreign drug facilities have been inspected only by themselves or hired consultants. Drug ingredients made overseas are then imported and used to make medications sold in Canada. Poorly made drug ingredients have been linked to side effects and deaths, Health Canada has said. The regulatory blind spot means a swath of the pharmaceutical industry is in charge of policing the quality of its own products. “It’s a huge conflict of interest when a company chooses its own inspector to test whether a product is safe and a factory is clean,” said Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa law professor who researches drug regulations.



margrace	Jun 12 2015, 12:29 AM Post #2
Gold Star Member Posts: 5,367 Group: Member Member #723 Joined: April 1, 2010	What is wrong with this government? Didn't we vote for people to protect us from this sort of thing. Well anyone as our rep in parliament who only is here because he couldn't get into where he lived is a good example of our failing system. The very fact that the green party is on the rise in our area should tell them something.



Trotsky	Jun 12 2015, 01:55 AM Post #3
Big City Boy Posts: 38,319 Group: Member Member #79 Joined: September 8, 2005	In stories like this my first suspect as the ultimate source is the brand name very expensive pharmaceutical producers like Pfizer, Merck, Astra-Zenica, Johnson and Johnson. They use scare techniques to try to push doctors and patients to pay 10 times as much for their meds instead of the same meds produced generically and sold cheaply. So they toss off a phrase like: " Poorly made drug ingredients have been linked to side effects and deaths," but then fail to add "but the numbers of these side effects and deaths is likely dwarfed by those from expensive patent meds made perfectly." Drugs are linked to side effects and deaths...PERIOD, and lots of them. Edited by Trotsky, Jun 12 2015, 01:56 AM.



friendshipgal	Jun 12 2015, 01:18 PM Post #4
Guess everyone wants their own Trudashians Posts: 12,815 Group: Member Member #241 Joined: February 12, 2006	I will take information from Health Canada any day over what the Red Star selectively reports. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/index-eng.php http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/compli-conform/gmp-bpf/summary-sommaire-eng.php



Darcie	Jun 12 2015, 01:31 PM Post #5
Skeptic Posts: 31,154 Group: Member Member #714 Joined: March 30, 2010	friendshipgal Jun 12 2015, 01:18 PM I will take information from Health Canada any day over what the Red Star selectively reports. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/index-eng.php http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/compli-conform/gmp-bpf/summary-sommaire-eng.php I would like to but they don't inspect these facilities so how do they know?



wildie	Jun 12 2015, 01:39 PM Post #6
Veteran Member Posts: 12,173 Group: Member Member #442 Joined: October 11, 2006	My cousin and I were using the same blood pressure medication. The patent for this ran out and OHIP demanded that generic drugs would be substituted. I switched without a problem, but my cousin lost control of his b/p and was forced to return to the original medication. I wonder why this would occur?



friendshipgal	Jun 12 2015, 02:01 PM Post #7
Guess everyone wants their own Trudashians Posts: 12,815 Group: Member Member #241 Joined: February 12, 2006	Darcie Jun 12 2015, 01:31 PM friendshipgal Jun 12 2015, 01:18 PM I will take information from Health Canada any day over what the Red Star selectively reports. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/index-eng.php http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/compli-conform/gmp-bpf/summary-sommaire-eng.php I would like to but they don't inspect these facilities so how do they know? The Health Minister Rona Ambrose addressed this drug concern issue and said health inspectors inspect the drugs before they are on the market, and if they cannot do it, they rely on the FDA. So this Minister is "on it".



Bitsy	Jun 12 2015, 02:58 PM Post #8
Veteran Member Posts: 31,383 Group: Member Member #267 Joined: March 11, 2006	Hard to self-inspect efficiently when you are short of money and staff. H Quote: ealth Canada is facing the prospect of dire budget cuts after national austerity measures called for more than $5.2 billion to be cut from the Canadian federal budget, reports The Globe and Mail. Health Canada is facing a budget shortfall of $200 million per year, and notified its staff in early April that it may need to lay off approximately 840 staff to close the gap. Those staff reductions have reportedly already started, with notifications going out to 715 Health Canada employees on 11 April 2012, reports The Epoch Times. The reductions may continue over the next few years, as the Canadian government looks to shed a total of 19,200 positions, reports The Globe and Mail. It was unclear in either The Globe and Mail's report or The Epoch Times' report if the cuts would affect Health Canada's healthcare product regulatory staff. - See more at: http://www.raps.org/focus-online/news/news-article-view/article/1355/health-canada-facing-budget-cuts-lays-off-hundreds-of-employees.aspx#sthash.0XkSMxCO.dpuf



Darcie	Jun 12 2015, 03:21 PM Post #9
Skeptic Posts: 31,154 Group: Member Member #714 Joined: March 30, 2010	wildie Jun 12 2015, 01:39 PM My cousin and I were using the same blood pressure medication. The patent for this ran out and OHIP demanded that generic drugs would be substituted. I switched without a problem, but my cousin lost control of his b/p and was forced to return to the original medication. I wonder why this would occur? That was exactly my problem with two medications, the only two I take. One is for my asthma, and when they switched the Singulair to the generic it would either not work or give me a headache. The pharmacist put me back on the original and I was OK. He said that I was not the only person who had problems like this, many others did also.



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