"The Drug Safety and Accountability Act, a bill filed today by Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) is long overdue in protecting American citizens from unsafe drugs.
This past April, a Johnson & Johnson recall of more than 40 brands and 130 million bottles of children's over-the-counter medications left worried parents here in Colorado and across the country scrambling to empty their medicine cabinets of the potentially harmful products. In this downward trend in patient safety, last year saw more than 1,700 drug recalls - four times more than in 2008 - that were mostly tied to manufacturing quality.
Why are Americans more at risk now?
. . .
A Pew Prescription Project poll released Aug. 3, 2010, shows that most Americans are concerned about drug safety, particularly the safety of drugs manufactured overseas, and support increased regulation. Seventy percent of respondents have little or no confidence that drugs manufactured in China are free from contamination and safe for Americans; 54 percent of respondents expressed the same concern about drugs manufactured in India. Ninety-four percent of Americans favor giving the FDA recall authority for drugs, which it currently lacks. Currently, almost all drug recalls are voluntary."