asked the Minister for Health if he will, as a matter of urgency, consider setting up the necessary machinery to control the standard of drugs being used in the country.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Control of Drug Standards.
19.
The Pharmacopoeia Act, 1931 provides that the British Pharmacopoeia for the time being in force is the pharmacopoeia for this country. The effect of this is that standards for a large number of medical preparations are legally prescribed and preparations offered for sale must conform to these standards.
In addition, the Therapeutic Substances Act, 1932, with the regulations made thereunder, is designed to ensure that certain types of preparations comply with proper standards of potency, quality and purity.
I am, as a matter of urgency, considering the whole question of drug control. The problems involved are quite complex but I am hopeful that I shall be in a position at a reasonably early date to devise arrangements, supplementing the existing arrangements in this field, which, whilst being effective, will be appropriate to the circumstances and resources of this country.