LANSING, Mich. - Today Senate Democrats who have sponsored legislation to hold big drug companies accountable when dangerous drugs harm or kill someone spoke out against the Senate Majority Leader’s declaration that he will not even allow a vote on the legislation. In the Grand Rapids Press today, Senator Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) was quoted saying, “"There are some things I have to be a stopper for," he [Bishop] said. “I don't have any intention of taking this issue up."

“What the Senate Majority Leader is saying is that he will be the stopper for any chance Michigan victims have at justice,” said Senator John Gleason (D-Flushing), sponsor of SB 19 which repeals immunity for drug companies. “His decision to bottle this legislation up cements their status as second-class citizens.”

Democrats debunked Republican claims that the drug industry immunity law has protected jobs in Michigan, noting that despite being the only state in the country with this type of law, thousands of pharmaceutical jobs have left the state in the 13 years it has been in effect. They also pointed out that the law is putting additional strain on already cash-strapped state and local budgets because the costs associated with these dangerous drugs cannot be recovered for taxpayers.

“Once again the Senate Majority Leader is placing the interests of big corporations ahead of protecting people,” said Senator Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing). “If there’s anything we should be stopping, it’s the disparity between the rights of the consumer and the power of these big drug companies.”

The full Grand Rapids Press article is available here: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/04/opponents_fight_drug_company_l.html.

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