by Andi Bryant

Created on: May 31, 2007

There are reasons the FDA monitors drugs and food items that are sold in the United States and it's not because there was once a group of people who decided they were bored and needed something to do.

Take the recent melamine spiked wheat gluten, for example. U.S. suppliers bought melamine tainted wheat gluten from a company outside of the United States, and since that imported product was not controlled by the FDA upon import, it was easily spiked or altered to look like the product contained optimal protein levels that just weren't there. This product was used in pet food and the altering has been directly linked to illness and death of domestic dogs and cats. As the melamine investigation progresses, the FDA is also looking into poultry feed and pork feed, and it is just a matter of time before data begins to emerge regarding human food items such as bread and protein enriched power drinks favored by athletes and weight lifters.

While melamine is found in probably every US home in the form of tile floors, whiteboards and cleaning foams, it has been outlawed to appear in any food or drug items because of potential health risks to the human population.

With all that being said, foreign drug companies are no different. Countries outside of the States tend to use suspension particulates in their drug manufacturing that have been either been banned in the U. S. because the FDA has deemed them unhealthy for public consumption, or understudied.

While I believe that people have a right to make their own decisions, I'm not sure medication is a good place for them to start. It's statistically unlikely that individuals who choose to seek medications from outside countries research the medication's composition before purchasing them. There are two potential issues that can arise from outside sales, you can either fall prey to unsafe drug composition or you can be purchasing medications that aren't meeting an effective level for your particular need.

I personally don't consider any drug safe as the title of this debate suggests. Whenever you have a drug, you have a chemical composition. Ingesting chemically enriched tablets can have any sort of effect on a person, either immediately or after prolonged use. Should someone become physically ill from a drug they purchased outside of the United States, there is little recourse to rectify the effects medically and financially since the responsibility won't fall on the FDA, it will fall on the individual purchaser. An outside facilitator of medications doesn't have to account for the composition of their medications within our country and you choose to purchase them with a heavy 'take at your own risk' warning attached to them.

While I do sympathize with those who have to take a cocktail of drugs daily and the financial burden the current drug pricing no doubt creates for them, I would find far more comfort in knowing the medications are monitored for safe consumption rather than try to just save a buck with an outside company. The old adage 'You get what you pay for' can be applied here.

Learn more about this author, Andi Bryant.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.