Byron Dorgan: “I indicated earlier that one of my colleagues stood up and said the legislation we had offered would allow drug…”

“I indicated earlier that one of my colleagues stood up and said the legislation we had offered would allow drug importation from any country in the world, and that is not true. There is no such debate on a bill that doesn't exist. Mr. President, I have a piece of information distributed by Pfizer Corporation that is opposed to my amendment. It describes various problems with the drugs that are purchased online and counterfeit drugs, and so on. Interestingly enough, all of these problems would be solved by the legislation I have introduced with all of the safety issues involved. You know these are specious issues because the underlying legislation would address all of those issues. Now, let me go through a list--this is the list; you won't be able to read it, but I will go through them--of the safety provisions in this legislation. First of all, with imported drugs, drugs imported from other countries, which, as I have indicated, Europe has done for 20 years with no safety issues at all, so we are as competent as the Europeans are in being able to do this.”