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Statement by the President on Approving a Recommendation for an International System To Monitor New Drugs.

April 21, 1965

WE HAVE already established an excellent national system for monitoring adverse drug reactions, under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The expansion of this into an international system would be of direct benefit to the American people since it would include the monitoring of adverse reactions throughout the world. This is one of the many instances in international technological cooperation where everybody gains and 'no one loses.

Note: The statement was part of a White House release announcing the President's approval on the same day of a recommendation for the establishment of an international system to monitor and report adverse reactions to drugs. The proposal, made by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, would be offered to the World Health Assembly convening in Geneva, May 4. Under the provisions of the proposal, the release stated, an International Adverse Drug Reaction Center would be created by the World Health Organization to develop a worldwide early warning system for drugs. The Center would be similar to WHO centers in other fields being operated in the United States and other countries.

The release pointed out that the President in his June 1964 commencement address at Holy Cross College had spoken of cooperative endeavors in the field of health (see 1963-64 volume, this series, Book I, p. 764). As a result of the President's directive, a review of international policy in 28 specialized fields had been undertaken by the United States as part of the observance of International Cooperation Year. The drug-effects plan was the first proposal to emerge from this review.

The President's appointment of the United States delegation to the 18th World Health Assembly, held at Geneva May 4-21, was announced by the White House on May 2. The release also listed the names of the three delegates and four alternates with Luther L. Terry, Surgeon General, Public Health Service, designated chairman.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on Approving a Recommendation for an International System To Monitor New Drugs. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241814

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