FDA Warns Dollar Tree About Potentially Unsafe Drugs
The other night my wife Kathy asked me to stop at the dollar store to pick up a couple of over the counter medications. The easiest place for me to stop and pick up the over the counter medications was Dollar Tree. It was cold. It snowed earlier. And it was getting icy. Dollar Tree seemed like it was our best bet. Then today I read that the FDA has issued a warning letter to Dollar Tree "for receiving over-the-counter (OTC) drugs produced by foreign manufacturers found to have serious violations of federal law."
While there are some things I might choose to not buy at a dollar store, ibuprofen isn't one of them. I mean it's a ubiquitous pain reliever, so there's no way that there could be a problem with that, right?
Well here's what the Food and Drug Administration has to say about the letter sent to Dollar Tree. "The warning letter outlines multiple violations of current good manufacturing practices at contract manufacturers used to produce Dollar Tree’s Assured Brand OTC drugs as well as other drug products sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores."
The FDA says Dollar Tree has received potentially unsafe drugs from foreign manufactures that the FDA has identifed over the past several years as producing products that they beleive are unsafe for consumers. Problems the FDA outlined in their letters to these manufacurers include "not testing raw materials or finished drugs for pathogens and quality." The FDA's letter to Dollar Tree details corrective actions they are asking the company to take including that the company not import what the FDA calls "adulterated drugs."
My wife and I have both had some of the Ibuprofen and we're OK by the way. That said, I think perhaps I'll make the effort to at least go to Walmart the next time Kathy asks me to pick up some Ibuprofen or antacids.