Online Pharmacies
Consumers are more and more replacing a trip
to the corner drugstore with a click onto the
Internet where there are lots of web sites promotion
prescription drugs.
Many of these are legitimate enterprises Pharmacy Health Topic that
offer convenience, privacy, and the safeguards
of traditional measures for prescribing drugs.
And while some online pharmacies are the well-known
large drugstore chains, most of them are smaller
local businesses enhancing their customer service
with electronic access.
But be wary of others who are using the Internet
as an outlet for products or practices that are
already illegal in the offline world. These sites
either sell unapproved products, or if they deal
in approved ones, they often sidestep established
procedures meant to protect consumers.
For example, some sites need customers only to
fill out a questionnaire prior to ordering prescription
drugs, bypassing any face-to-face communication
with a health professional. This sets the stage
for harmful problems like drug interactions, and
uses of contaminated, outdated, or counterfeit
drugs.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have
made Internet examination an enforcement priority,
targeting unlicensed new drugs, health fraud,
and prescription drugs sold with no a valid prescription.
Consumers looking for health products online Pharmacy Health Topic can
find many sites that FDA officials say are officially
questionable. Some concentrate in particular drugs
like the baldness therapy Propecia (finasteride)
, Viagra, or the weight-loss treatment Xenical
(orlistat). Others, based in foreign countries,
promise to distribute prescription drugs at a
much cheaper price than their domestic cost, but
the drugs may be dissimilar from those approved
in the United States or may be past their expiration
dates.
New rule has been planned to regulate online pharmacies.
But in the meantime, the oversight of online pharmacies
cuts across the jurisdictions of a number of Federal
and state agencies. State medical boards control
medical practice, while state pharmacy boards
supervise pharmacy practice. The FDA and Federal
Trade Commission take care that drug sellers make
legal claims about their products. The U.S. Postal
Service and the U.S. Customs Service put into
effect laws about the shipment of drug products.
The FDA regulates the safety, effectiveness and
manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs, in addition
to a part of the prescribing process.
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