Drug Import Safety Scandal
February 28th, 2008
More concerns over the imported active ingredient in Baxtor’s Heparin drug thinner have come up recently. Several deaths are potentially linked to impurities in ingredients coming from Chinese subcontractors. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese government yesterday indicated “safeguarding the legality, quality, and safety of active drug ingredients lies with the importing nation”. Apparently meant to shift the blame for improper production to the buyer no matter what the local product safety conditions are like. Buyer beware with lives at stake? I am quite certain they would have a different opinion if the problems were coming from America to China, but naturally that is hardly likely to happen.
Folks should check with their doctor if they are concerned about this medication.
Baxtor does own a Chinese supplier of this ingredient, but the production of the key active ingredient is farmed out to many subcontractors, who extract it from pig’s intestines. The FDA had not visited Baxtor’s Chinese site, and frankly would have been hard pressed to see more than a few subcontractors. Baxtor at least shares the blame as they must more closely control every medication ingredient’s source. The low ingredient price in itself should have been a warning to them.
Clearly U.S. companies sourcing from China, etc. should be very careful, as the reality is a lot of the heavy work is done by small subcontractors with little regard for product safety standards. This is true of not just medications and food, but also of products with dyes or other chemicals in products like toys or clothing.
The truth is we are only seeing these stories when chemicals or impurities show up immediately because people get sick or die. Those chemicals that take years to have an effect, like cause cancer, are hardly being checked. The best thing to do is buy from nations that are known to follow basic product safety standards. Everything at www.MadeinUSAForever.com is made in the U.S.A.
Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 1:15 amand is filed under Foreign Product Safety.
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