FDA: Expiration Dates Matter

Posted on April 20, 2011

THe FDA has issued a consumer update about medicine expiration dates. The FDA says if your medicine has expired, it may not provide the treatment you need.

An article on the Harvard Medical School's Family Health Guide website says the expiration dates on drugs are "very conservative." They also cite a study that tested 100 drugs and found 90% of them were "perfectly good to use even 15 years after the expiration date."

In this video (from the FDA) FDA pharmacist Ilisa Bernstein explains how expiration dates help determine if medicine is safe to use and will work as intended. She says if your medicine has expired don't use it. Take a look:

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