E-Drug: Drug donations - will we ever learn?: Action? (9)
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Dear E-druggers,
PQMD joins Dr. Olaf Valverde Mordt in his outrage that sponsors of bad
donations get off scot free and leave already hurting nations to clean up their toxic messes. But punishing responsible donors, as Dr. Mordt suggests, hardly seems fair. Every reasonable effort should be made to identify the culprits, expose them in the media and to their governments, and seek restitution.
When PQMD became the first signatory to the WHO Guidelines in 1999 we pledged to meet them, and to be held accountable. But we are not prepared to do penance for other people's transgressions.
One way to discourage bad donations is to bar tax deductions for them.
Under current US law, any donation is deductible if the product is FDA approved and has at least six month dating. PQMD believes the law should require all drug donations to meet the WHO Guidelines. We've asked the US Congress to make that change, and we hope others do the same.
[In addition to tax deduction, companies get rid of a waste problem because they cannot deliver products with shorter shelf life than 6 months to American pharmacies. US double standards: Americans are protected from buying short-dated products, but the government finds it OK to send them to other nations! They can also send drugs that has been rejected by FDA. KM, moderator]
Jim
James B. Russo
Executive Director
The Partnership for Quality Medical Donations
www.pqmd.org
146 Koenig Rd.
Bernville, PA 19506 USA
610 488 8303
610 488 7036 (fax)
484 269 6470 (mobile)
jbrusso@pqmd.org