LANSING-This morning, Senator Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) stood beside House Democrats and Michigan victims of defective drugs and their families to call on the Legislature to repeal Michigan’s harmful drug immunity law. The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing today on a package of bills that will repeal drug industry immunity in Michigan and allow consumers to hold drug companies accountable when their products harm or kill consumers.

“We need to stop treating Michigan residents like second-class citizens and move this legislation quickly,” said Sen. Whitmer, Minority Vice Chair on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The suffering and injustice of Michigan victims of defective drugs has gone on long enough, and I hope the House’s action today and the U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this month are finally enough to compel my Senate Republican colleagues to stand up to special interests and fight for our endangered citizens.”

The House’s package of legislation would allow Michigan residents the proper legal recourse when they or their family members are harmed or killed by a faulty prescription drug. Similar bills passed the House last session but were blocked by Senate Republicans. The Senate Majority has also failed to act on ongoing efforts by Senate Democrats to repeal Michigan’s drug immunity law, including Senate Bill 19, the Senate’s version of such legislation that is currently before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On March 4, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a victim of a dangerous and defective pharmaceutical product has the right to pursue damages from those manufacturers.

Michigan is the only state in the nation that shields big drug companies that make and sell harmful products from giving legal recourse to victims and their families. Michigan’s drug immunity law affects victims of all defective and dangerous prescription drugs, including Vioxx, Celebrex, Rezulin and Fen Phen as well as the potential risks of new drugs not even on the market yet.

# # #