Don Nickles: “Senator Cochran alluded to 2 years ago when we passed this amendment unanimously. He said if we are going to do it…”

“Senator Cochran alluded to 2 years ago when we passed this amendment unanimously. He said if we are going to do it, let's make sure it does not impose significant additional risk on consumers, thereby saving money. I don't know why anyone would vote against that amendment. I hope no one will vote against this amendment. It is a very important amendment. Let me make a couple of comments. Someone will ask, didn't we already do that in the Dorgan amendment which passed by a nice vote? The Dorgan amendment is full of loopholes. It says it would be suspended upon the discovery of a pattern of importation of prescriptions by the importer that is counterfeit or in violation of any requirement in this section. If this is the case, how many people will have to die before we realize there is a pattern? How many will realize those yellow tablets that Senator Breaux was holding up are actually paint instead of maybe a lifesaving drug? How many patterns have to exist before we realize this really didn't work? We have the FDA where we spend millions and millions of dollars inspecting, trying to make sure we have quality drugs for our citizens. We are just going to open up a gigantic loophole for unscrupulous manufacturers. I wish that were not the case, but if anyone travels anywhere in the world, they know it happens often. When you talk with our State Department about counterfeit drugs or copyright violations on software, they will tell you that it happens lots of time.”