Why Drug Expiration Dates Don’t Matter — With Only A Few Exceptions
**the content of this newsletter is not meant to give advice on drugs. It is merely pointing out the results of a study conducted by the FDA. If you have any questions about medications, consult your MD or pharmacist.
“You should never take a medication that has passed its expiration date.” Agree? or Disagree?
Many of you might gander that it’s probably completely ineffective. And it might even be toxic. If you’re nodding your head right now, I have some news for you. I recently uncovered a study which showed that with some exceptions, expiration dates mean little to nothing.
Here’s why:
The only reason that we even have expiration dates is because the feds passed a regulation in 1979 requiring drug manufacturers to stamp an expiration date on their products. You’d think that an expiration date is established by testing the drug over years to see when it loses its potency. But that’s not the case.
The date simply means that the manufacturer guarantees that the drug will keep its potency until the said date. It does not mean that the drug loses its potency after that date.How long the drug company tests for an expiration date is completely up to them. If they want to guarantee it for only six months, that’s up to them. If they want to guarantee it for longer they can. The point is this. There is absolutely no reason why a drug can’t be just as effective many years after its so-called expiration date.
This information comes from a study conducted by the FDA almost 15 years ago at the request of the military. With a large and expensive stockpile of drugs, the military faced tossing out and replacing its drugs every few years. The FDA focused on 100 prescription and over-the-counter drugs and found out that 90% of them were perfectly good 15 years after their suggested date.
In fact, some drugs were good for 25 years after the date. The study did reveal some possible exceptions. Apparently, nitroglycerin, insulin, and liquid antibiotics are sensitive to decay and may not be effective after their expiration dates. So why doesn’t the FDA require manufacturers to actually check their products to see how long they are effective so the expiration date really means something?
Mr. Flaherty,
a pharmacist at the FDA until his retirement last year says, “Manufacturers put expiration dates on for marketing, rather than scientific, reasons. It’s not profitable for them to have products on a shelf for 10 years. They want turnover.” And Joel Davis, a former FDA expiration-date compliance chief, goes on to explain, “Most drugs degrade very slowly. In all likelihood, you can take a product you have at home and keep it for many years, especially if it’s in the refrigerator.”
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