Our dependence on China for prescription drugs

https://sharylattkisson.com/2020/02/china-syndrome-our-surprising-dependence-on-china-for-our-prescription-drugs/

This was from 2018 by Sharyl Attkisson—but even more alarming today with the coronavirus.

Sharyl Attkisson: In the 1990’s, the US, Europe, and Japan manufactured 90 percent of the key ingredients from medicine and vitamins. But now China is the largest global supplier. Why the change?

Rosemary Gibson: The change is because when we started buying generic drugs, which are terrific because they can be a lot less costly than brand name drugs, we had to find a cheaper way to make them. And China was more than willing with its lower labor costs to be a place where companies could buy those key ingredients.

Sharyl Attkisson: We’re talking about antibiotics, chemotherapies antidepressants. What other kinds of things?

Rosemary Gibson: Well, now, the generic drugs that we’re buying from China and Chinese companies in China include blood pressure medicines, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, antidepressants the whole range of generic drugs now that we are importing from China.

And more. . .

iPhone 5

The demand for iPhone is causing riots in China at Foxconn, employer of some 1.1 million Chinese workers. It also supplies products for companies such as HP, Dell and Microsoft. Have we seen that in Obama ads about jobs going overseas? No. His administration is hoping this gooses the economy.

Workers at Foxconn are so miserable there have been 17 suicides and there are nets on the buildings. Work, sleep, eat--all in the same building. I've seen factory farm chickens that look happier.

Wang Zhiqian, who used to work on Foxconn’s production line and now recruits workers for the company. “We attract many fewer workers now than in 2010. People would rather work at a hotel or other places. It’s not a lack of workers in these areas, it’s a problem of spiritual emptiness.”

Wang and others describe work days that routinely extend three hours into overtime, leaving little opportunity to do anything after hours but sleep, and little talk among the workers, who stew in their frustrations.

“It’s definitely not a happy place,” he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/foxconn-riot-in-china-unlikely-to-be-the-last-experts-say/2012/09/25/1e6828b8-071c-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_story.html

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-09-19/tech/tech_mobile_iphone-5-pre-orders_1_iphone-4s-release-apple-stores-16gb

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/09/24/apples-5-million-iphone-5-sales-what-analysts-are-saying/

What's eating you now?

Our local Channel 10 provided a very interesting investigative report last night about dental implants, caps and crowns. Did you know that is one more "American product" that goes in your body that has been outsourced to China? These things are cemented to your teeth. There is NO safe level of lead for the human body, but after testing the work of 8 different labs that used Chinese suppliers, Channel 10 found one lab whose products contained lead--off the charts for safety and exposure for humans. There are 300 commercial dental labs in Ohio. Even if your dentist is making the crowns and caps himself--he's getting the material from one of these labs. They do not have to register with the FDA unless they have overseas operations. And 46 other states don't either. Dentists who use the foreign made material do so because it is 1/10th the cost of U.S. made.

Personally, I don't care what the CDC and FDA say about their complex guidelines, I know China doesn't have or doesn't respect contract law in its culture or background. It has penal law. Your commercial contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on--assuming these things are still on paper. If American companies chose to do business there, they'd better be ready to send over a small army of American trained inspectors and plant foremen to protect the American consumer, which would considerably add to the cost.

And how smart is this? The FDA doesn't enforce its own guidelines for foreign made dental work according the Channel 10's research; that is left to the Border Patrol--you know, those overworked, understaffed folks who also have to protect us from Mexican peasants infiltrating and Asian stowaways in ship containers.

The story was also in today's Columbus Dispatch.

Thank you, channel 10, for this research. But don't you wonder where the peer reviewed medical researchers are? Are they all working on poverty gap stories on government grants? And where are the legislators who pass our laws and supposedly require oversight for safety? Frankly, I think they need to get the lead out of some of their hearings on baseball players and talk show hosts, and start asking some tough questions about our food and medical products from China and drugs that come from India to be sold to our seniors on the government prescription drug plan.

Remember what happened to Fido and Fluffy!