http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/02/cvs-in-court-again-for-even-more-expired-drugs-milk-eggs/
On Monday, Connecticut became the latest state to cite CVS (CVS) drugstores for selling expired products. Richard Blumenthal, the state's attorney general, filed a lawsuit against CVS, revealing that investigations his office conducted over the past year and a half determined that 44% of inspected stores sold expired over-the-counter drugs, infant formula, energy drinks, milk, eggs, and yogurt.
The suit puts Connecticut in a small fraternity of states battling the huge chain. New York settled with CVS last month for $875,000. California and Nevada also took CVS to task, but California doesn't outlaw selling expired drugs, and Nevada imposed a laughable wrist-slap of a fine, for $5,000.
CVS's sale of expired merchandise isn't a local problem; it seems endemic to the chain. In 2008, Change to Win, a consumer advocacy group, surveyed more than 1,500 CVS outlets in 11 states and found that in 10 states, more than 42% of stores had expired products on their shelves -- more than two years past their expiration dates, in some cases.
So why haven't the CVS stores in the other states cited by Change to Win -- Texas, Michigan, Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia -- been rooted out? When a large national retailer consistently sells expired and spoiled food and drugs, the Federal government would seem to want to get involved -- but a Food and Drug Administration representative says, "The FDA defers to state and local authorities for enforcement action.
"The trouble lies in the laws surrounding expiration dates. Federal law requires manufacturers to put dates on a few items -- including baby food and infant formula -- but doesn't require stores to pull expired goods. Laws vary by state and are often enforced halfheartedly, giving CVS little impetus to regulate itself.
Until the FDA gets the responsbility and resources to police drugstores and pharmacies, CVS and competitors like Rite Aid seem likely to keep stocking their shelves with products long past their deadline.
It is amazing that CVS can get away with expired goods, especially when it comes to infant formula. My boyfriend owns a bar that is scrutinized on a monthly basis by the Board of Health and yet CVS can get away with expired goods, some being expired more than two years, on their shelves.
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This article is a good argument for stricter regulation concearning the sale and distribution of food and drugs. I think that it is rediculouse to have regulations that require exporation dates but no rules concearning the sale of expired goods. Whats the point of having the regulation requireing the date in the first place.
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