Health Reveal
How many billions
of dollars the
pharmaceutical
industry bilks out
of unknowing
consumers every
year who discard
perfectly good
drugs and buy new
ones because they
trust the industry.
Do Medicines Really Expire?
By Richard Altschuler
Does the expiration date on
a bottle of a medication
mean anything?
If a bottle of Tylenol, for example,
says something like "Do not use
after June 1998," and it is August
2002, should you take the Tylenol?
Should you discard it?
Can you get hurt if you take it?
Will it simply have lost its potency
and do you no good?
In other words, are drug
40 February 2020 | www.smartgovernance.in
manufacturers being honest with
us when they put an expiration
date on their medications, or is the
practice of dating just another drug
industry scam, to get us to buy new
medications when the old ones that
purportedly have "expired" are still
perfectly good?
These are the pressing questions I
investigated after my mother-in-law
recently said to me,
"It doesn't mean anything," when
I pointed out that the Tylenol she
was about to take had "expired" 4
years and a few months ago. I was a
bit mocking in my pronouncement.
Upon my return to NYC
and high-speed connection, I
immediately scoured the medical
databases and general literature for
the answer to my question about
drug expiration labeling.
And voila, no sooner than I
could say "Screwed again by the
pharmaceutical industry," I had my
answer. Here are the simple facts: