US
Customs and The Food and Drug Administration will no longer be
confiscating any packages as of Monday, October
9th. This is in no small part to the pressure
applied on US politicians by the dedicated customers of GlobalDrugsDirect.com.
Your feedback and support is greatly appreciated and goes a
long way toward providing access to affordable medications for
the citizens of the
United States -
Thank You.
US
Customs seized over 40,000 packages of imported drugs starting
November 17th, 2005, two days after the start of
enrollment for Medicare’s new prescription drug program. Democrats in Congress
and many seniors suspected that this was done to scare the US
seniors and resulting in them signing up for coverage with the
new Medicare Plan D program and paying higher prices for drugs
from local U.S pharmacies. Regardless of what many seniors and
Democrats think,
U.S. officials said
that they were confiscating Canadian packages out of concerns
about the safety of U.S consumers.
Seniors
complained that they were failing to receive needed
medications, and members of Congress who favor the importation
of cheap drugs for senior constituents criticized the agency
for failing to adequately warn people of the
crackdown.
According
to Nelson and The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the FDA
will not confiscate any small drug shipments, up to a 90 day
supply, for individuals. The FDA will only focus on
large shipments of drugs that are likely being imported for
illegal purposes.
As
Senate Bill Nelson said, "It's a great victory, particularly
for the senior citizens who are having difficulty making
financial ends meet in a time in which, sadly, some senior
citizens have to make a decision between buying their
prescription drugs and buying their groceries."
>>back to top
Vaccine Preventing Cervical
Cancer
The
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first
vaccine, Gardasil, against human papillomavirus (HPV), which
causes Cervical Cancer.
This will not be available to women for a few years,
but could save thousands of lives and may end the need for
smear tests, once available. The vaccine would be given to
girls prior to them becoming sexually active. Trials have
shown that this vaccine can offer 100% protection against
strains of HPV related to about 70% of cervical cancers.
According
to the World Health Organization, Cervical cancer kills more
than 288,000 women worldwide each year, and is on the rise if
nothing is done about it.
HPV
is a very common sexually transmitted virus. Most people who
have ever had sex, both men and women, have been infected at
some point in their lives. Most people never even know they've
had HPV because the virus usually doesn't cause any symptoms
and the body is able to fight it off easily.
The
vaccine, Gardasil, only targets 4 HPV types. There are as many
as 100 strains of the virus. Also, Gardasil only works if a
woman has not been infected with one of these HPV types. High
risk HPV types, strains 16, 18, and 31 and 33 have been found
in close to 100% of all cervical cancers.
The
FDA has approved the vaccine in women ages 9-26. Now that the
vaccine is FDA-approved, a separate federal panel will decide
what the immunization schedule should be. This is not for sale
as of yet.
>>back to
top