Gilbert Gutknecht: “As the gentleman saw at the hearing, they are very oblique even on that issue. Because we can demonstrate it is safer to…”

“As the gentleman saw at the hearing, they are very oblique even on that issue. Because we can demonstrate it is safer to buy drugs from a legal pharmacy. And we are not talking about illegal drugs. I want to make that very clear. We are only talking about FDA-approved drugs that came from FDA facilities. We are not going to go down the path of talking about other drugs, because there are people in south Miami that import drugs every day. Those are not legal drugs. We are not talking about any of those. But let us talk about what the law actually says, and this is where they hang their hat. It says, and let me read this: ``Section 381: The Secretary of the Treasury shall deliver to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, upon his request, samples of food, drug, devices and cosmetics which are being imported or offered for import into the United States, giving notice thereof to the owner or consignee who may appear before the Secretary of Health and Human Services and have the right to introduce testimony.'' Now, this is what they say. This is where they hang their hats and they keep Americans from legally buying imported drugs from countries around the world. Here is the operative sentence: ``if it appears from the examination of such samples or otherwise that (1) such article has been manufactured, processed, or packed under unsanitary conditions.'' Well, there is no evidence that any of these drugs are packaged under unsanitary conditions.”