Did Democrats Betray Americans

[scribblet]

Anyone surprised at this? Maybe the House will have the common sense to pass a bill that allows drugs to be imported and there will be some compromise.

http://www.newstarget.com/021834.html

Consumers expecting a miracle in the Senate that would end Big Pharma's monopoly and the FDA-enforced drug racket now operating in the United States will be sorely disappointed by yesterday's events. Fifteen Democratic senators (led by Sen. Edward Kennedy) abandoned consumer interests and joined a Republican-organized amendment that would protect Big Pharma's stranglehold over U.S. consumers by blocking the importation of prescription drugs from other countries.

The amendment in question is Senate Amendment 1010: "To protect the health and safety of the public," sponsored by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) as an amendment to S.1082, the FDA reauthorization bill.

also http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://w...qIQ7EAQ251Q5Ezb

WASHINGTON, May 7 -- The Senate voted on Monday to preserve current restrictions on the importing of lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries, fearing that such imports could pose risks to consumers, even with new safeguards.

By a vote of 49 to 40, the Senate approved a measure saying that imports will not be allowed unless the secretary of health and human services first certifies that they "pose no additional risk to the public's health and safety," and that they will significantly reduce costs to consumers.

Consumer advocates have long favored such imports as a way to make medicines more affordable. But health officials in the Clinton and Bush administrations have blocked such efforts, saying they cannot guarantee the safety of imported medicines.

Senators Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, and Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, were the chief sponsors of the original proposal, which would allow imports.

"American consumers are paying the highest prices in the world for brand-name prescription drugs," Mr. Dorgan said. "We are trying to change that."

Mr. Dorgan's proposal would have allowed consumers, pharmacists, drug wholesalers and distributors to import prescription drugs from Canada, Japan, Australia and European countries found to have regulatory requirements comparable to those in the United States.

Arguing against the proposal, Senator Thad Cochran, Republican of Mississippi, cited an article in The New York Times on Sunday that described how people had died after taking medicines contaminated with a toxic, sweet-tasting syrup imported from China.

-snip-

President Bush had threatened to veto legislation that allowed drug imports outside the existing system. The White House said such legislation would "result in unsafe, unapproved and counterfeit drugs being imported into the United States."

[Shakeyhands]

so by extension, did the Republicans that voted against it betray Americans as well?

I'm surprised though that the Democrats voted the way they did.

[Black Dog]

You mean one of the U.S.'s two political parties voted to preserve the interests of the wealthy and powerful? The only thing that's shocking is that anyone would be shocked by this.