Senate Bill 101, backed by Gov. Sonny Perdue and now making its way through the state Senate, would free Georgia-based pharmaceutical corporations that make dangerous drugs or medical devices from accountability for any harm they cause, so long as their drug or medical device has received federal Food and Drug Administration approval. The bill grants complete immunity from liability to the corporation while stripping the constitutional rights of the citizens of this state.

Vioxx was an FDA-approved drug that seriously harmed or killed at least 139,000 people. If a drug were made here that killed Georgians as Vioxx did, our residents would have absolutely no recourse. A person in Phenix City, Ala., just across the state line, could pursue justice in the courts; a person in Columbus, Ga., just inside the state line, could not. Why take away the rights of citizens in your own state?

Perdue should not hand the lives of our citizens over to a federal bureaucracy and at the same time strip them of any right they have to seek a civil remedy if something goes horribly wrong. Georgians deserve much better than that.

While it's clear where the governor's priorities lay, let's hope elected members of the legislature think otherwise.

Josh Branch

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