From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Fri Sep 01 2000 - 20:34:42 MDT
LEF Email List1 - http://www.lef.org
Dear Health Freedom Activist:
Members of The Life Extension Foundation received great news this Summer
when they learned that both the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed
legislation that legalizes the importation of drugs made in FDA-approved
facilities in the US and abroad. President Clinton has said he will sign
this legislation.
This drug importation legislation is included as part of the Agriculture
Appropriations bill. If this final bill is signed into law, it will
greatly reduce the cost of prescription medications to the consumer. The
drug industry, on the other hand, is battling tooth and nail to convince
Congress to drop the drug importation provision from the Agriculture
Appropriations bill. The drug companies, of course, want to protect their
illicit monopoly of the American marketplace.
We are therefore asking those who cherish free choice to call their U.S.
Representative and request that he/she sign a letter to the Agriculture
Appropriations Conferees that is now being circulated by Congressman Gil
Gutknecht. This particular letter (attached below) urges the Conferees to
keep the drug importation provision in the final version of the
Agriculture Appropriations bill.
If you don't know the name of your Representative, please call the House
switchboard at 1-202-224-3121 or access the House's Web site at
(www.house.gov)
Please join the growing army of educated consumers that have discovered
identical medications can be obtained from other countries at much lower
prices.
By asking your Congressional representative to sign on to the letter being
circulated by Congressman Gil Gutknecht, you will help beat back drug
industry lobbyists who are seeking to ensure that Americans keep paying
the highest prices in the world for their prescription medications.
Attached below is the letter by Congressmen Gil Gutknecht that you should
ask your member of Congress to sign on to. You can ask your member of
Congress to call Gil Gutkneck's office at 202-225-2472 to sign on to this
letter.
For longer life,
William Faloon
(What follows is Congressman Gutknecht's letter that you will be asking
your Congressmen to sign on to.)
Dear Agriculture Appropriations Conferees:
Based on the clear will of Congress demonstrated in overwhelming votes in
both Houses during the past month, we are writing to underscore for you
the crucial importance of including a strong provision legalizing
importation of prescription drugs made in FDA-approved facilities in the
Conference Report to the Agriculture Appropriations bill.
As you know, drug importation votes in the House and Senate have made
clear Congress' conviction that the world's best consumers should not be
paying the world's highest prices. On June 29, the House passed
legislation strengthening importers' due-process rights.
Earlier this month, the House passed two measures, one offered by
Representative Crowley, the other by Representative Coburn, effectively
repealing a 1988 law against importing FDA-approved drugs originally made
in the United States.
The Senate also has made its will clear. On July 19, the Senate passed
legislation by a vote of 74-21 reiterating the House position that the
1988 re-importation ban should be overturned. In addition to explicitly
legalizing the importation of drugs made in FDA-approved facilities, the
Senate measure instructed the FDA to establish regulations to ensure the
safety of such imports.
In the light of these clear and definitive steps by both the House of
Representatives and the Senate, we urge the Conferees to include
legislation in the Conference Report to the Agriculture Appropriations
bill repealing the 1988 re-importation ban and establishing the legality
of importation of prescription drugs made in FDA-approved facilities in
the United States and abroad.
Sincerely,
(Your Representative in the House)
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