Consumer Confidence

New Zealand's Ministry of Health and Pharmac sought yesterday to reassure the public over the use of amoxicillin syrup and two other drugs, while explaining that the imports from India may be banned.

Their action follows the United States Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday banning imports of a number of medicines made at two plants in India operated by the drug company Ranbaxy, because of unresolved concerns from an audit in March. It has not banned sales of existing inventory in the US.

My daughter has been taking one such drug under scrutiny:

Amoxicillin syrup antibiotic, 125mg/5ml and 250mg/5ml. Around 400,000 prescriptions written a year in NZ.

Just when you thought you could trust something...just makes me want to go live in the woods and eat berries and rabbits and sew my own clothes from deer skin and cook my meal (and do my laundry) over an open flame. Okay just kidding, but I'd have to be in big denial not to make a connection here...shouldn't we be more local? shouldn't NZ have it's own testing authority rather than rely on other foreign governments to tell NZ it's okay to take these drugs?

Our children's lives depend on it.