Gilbert Gutknecht: “Not much. They wave as it goes by. But they do keep records as well; and according to the FDA, eating imported…”

“Not much. They wave as it goes by. But they do keep records as well; and according to the FDA, eating imported strawberries, something like 25,000 Americans have gotten ill and some have died from eating imported strawberries. Yet we eat strawberries every day, many of them are imported; and the FDA does almost nothing. But one area where we can absolutely guarantee safety, the FDA has put a wall between American consumers and being able to afford these drugs. Let me give an example. I am holding in my hand a package of Tamoxifen, and this is probably one of the examples that makes me angrier than any other. Tamoxifen is an amazing drug. It is a miracle drug, and particularly for women who are suffering from breast cancer. This may save their lives. This is an amazing drug. The most amazing thing is we helped pay for it. We, the taxpayers. This drug was developed almost exclusively with research and development dollars from the NIH. The company decided originally, because it was developed with taxpayers' money, that they would not patent it. Then they thought about it again and said, no, I think we will patent it. And I guess they had a right to patent it. But this is what really bothers me. We bought this drug in Munich, Germany 3 weeks ago for 60.33 Euros. Now, on that day the equivalent, and the dollar and the Euro vary a bit, but that worked out on that day to $59.05 American for this package of 100 tablets, 20 milligrams, Tamoxifen.”