The owner of two Washington, D.C. pharmacies has admitted violating the Federal Poison Prevention Packaging Act by dispensing prescription drugs in containers that were not child-resistant.
The pharmacies are the Washington Clinic PharmaclJ at 5401 Western Avenue, N.W. and McLean Drugs at 4900 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., both in the District of Columbia.
On October 28th f the Department of Justice, on behalf of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, filed a complaint and a signed consent decree in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. in which the defendants, Professional Apothecary, Inc. and the company's president, Arthur 31. Weinstein, acknowledged the past violations.
The defendants have agreed to have pharmacists they employ sign statements that they understand the law's requirements. The Company has also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1,000 for each future violation.
To prevent accidental poisoning of children, federal law requires pharmacists to dispense prescription drugs in child-resistant containers, unless the customer or prescribing physician directs otherwise.
According to a recent pilot study conducted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in association with Children's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, 26 percent of the childhood ingestions related to a prescription package involved non-child-resistant packages dispensed to families with young children. An additional 36 percent of the ingestions involved a grandparent's prescription, many of which had been dispensed in non-child-resistant packages.
In spite of continuing problems with prescription drug ingestions and dispensing practices of some pharmacies, child-resistant packaging has proven effective in reducing accidental poisonings and deaths in young children.
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