From hcrenewal blog:
Now, as reported to date only on the PostScript blog, a US government report on problems with active pharmaceutical ingredients made in China has appeared.
A new report (pdf) by the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission stresses the safety risks to Americans posed by pharmaceutical ingredients made in China.
According to the report, issued by a group that advises Congress on the economic and trade implications of U.S.-China relations, found that the U.S. is the number one destination for Chinese pharmaceutical raw material exports – a $2.2 billion business each year. The U.S. relies heavily on Chinese products not only for over-the-counter drugs but for active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) found in prescription drugs.
And the report makes clear that China has neither the will nor the systems in place to monitor its exports.
Read that again. The basic materials going into your prescriptions medicines may be unsafe. There is no way to know. No one is checking to make sure that your medications are safe. What you think you may be taking to keep you healthy and productive may kill you.
My daughter takes Ritalin, It has helped her in school a great deal. I worry about her interpersonal relations though. She seems just too ok on her own. She seems to have no need to be with other kids her age. I do not know if she would have been this way with or without the drug?
ReplyDelete"The basic materials going into your prescriptions medicines may be unsafe. . . [n]o one is checking to make sure that your medications are safe."
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I'm really not that confident in the the FDA's ability to safeguard homemade pharmaceuticals let alone those coming from China. Consider the FDA and its sad record of keeping known harmful prescription drugs on the market for the sake of profit, the rather obvious flaw in its "efficacy" over "benefit" protocol for drug approval and its uncovered use of industry-funded scientific studies to name just a few.
In my opinion, the China factor is, at best, a wake up call for a nation too quick to equate health care with medication and at worst, a nicely placed distraction (eh' hem. . . alibi) for more FDA corruption. There, I said it!