Washington, Mar 9 - U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Peggy Hamburg told Congress Tuesday that she isn't yet ready to support allowing prescription drugs to be re-imported from abroad because she fears it could create a slew of safety problems.

Hamburg defended her views on drug re-importation before a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on the FDA's budget. She came under intense questioning from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.). Dorgan has advocated the issue for years and said he was "upset" by a letter Hamburg wrote last year opposing drug re-importation a day before a key Senate vote on the matter.

Hamburg said FDA-approved drugs in other countries might have the same name, the same packaging and come from the same place as medicines shipped to the U.S. but still be different.

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