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2007-9-3 23:41:13 |
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Canadian pharmacists want their government to forbid the export of prescription drugs to the United States, the Globe and Mail reported. The demand is a response to a U.S. Congress bill that would make it legal for American pharmacies and wholesalers to import approved prescription drugs from Canada and certain other countries, where the drugs cost less than they do in the United States. The bill would also allow individual Americans to buy drugs for their own use from Canadian pharmacies. In a letter to Canada's health minister, four organizations representing pharmacists and drug distributors said the U.S. bill could have a catastrophic impact on Canadian drug supplies, the Globe and Mail reported. "This American legislative proposal poses an imminent and serious threat to the security and integrity of Canada's drug supply, and hence a serious and genuine threat to the health and well-being of Canadians," the letter said. The letter called for "an immediate ban on the export, both bulk and retail, of prescription drugs from Canada." ----- Japan Confirms H5N1 Bird Flu Outbreak The dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed as the cause of an outbreak on a poultry farm in southern Japan, according to the country's agriculture ministry. About 3,900 chickens died on a farm in the Miyazaki prefecture (state) over the weekend. More than 8,000 birds were then slaughtered in an attempt to control the outbreak and all the dead birds were incinerated, Agence France Presse reported. "The examination conducted at the National Institute of Animal Health confirmed that the bird flu virus detected in Miyazaki prefecture was the H5N1 strain," said a statement from the agriculture ministry. Eleven other poultry farms within a 10-kilometer radius of the affected farm have been banned from shipping any chickens or eggs, AFP reported. Hong Kong has banned all poultry imports from Japan. No human infections have been reported in this latest outbreak in Japan. Since it first appeared in 2003, the H5N1 virus has killed more about 160 people worldwide. Most of those human infections have been the result of direct contact with infected birds. However, experts fear that the virus may mutate into a form that's easily transmitted between humans. ----- |
