Online Pharmacies – Do you know what you're getting?
Online pharmacies are becoming more and more commonplace, and are an easy and convenient way to purchase medications in our hectic lives, when making it to the pharmacy and waiting for a prescription to be filled might take more time than you have. But what if you knew that your online pharmacist is filling as many as 300 prescriptions in an hour – that's a prescription every 12 seconds. Can you be sure that what you are getting is accurate and safe?
A study conducted of Canadian on-line pharmacies, by the State of Minnesota has raised some questions about the safety of ordering your medications on-line.
The State of Minnesota was examining these organizations with the idea that they would purchase medications this way and save the state hundred of millions of dollars in drug costs by importing them from Canada. What they found however, was surprising.
In some cases the companies failed to notify customers of medications that had been recalled for health and safety reasons. They did not provide childproof caps for some of the medicines and neglected to inform consumers of potentially lethal medication combinations, or allergies.
There were also problems found with the way that some of the medications were shipped. Some, which required refrigeration, were shipped without any such precautions.
Currently there are no regulations for online pharmacies. As a result patient safety may be at risk. There is a clear need for regulations to be put into place to govern these pharmacies not merely as an economic issue but as a health issue.
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