** Previously recorded by Phyllis Schlafly // January 2014 **
Now that America is importing most of the ingredients in our prescription drugs and the majority of the foods we eat, it’s important to look behind the label. It may or may not tell you where the products come from. Your prescription drugs may be coming from Communist China.
Drug research in China has fallen under a cloud, because 13 of the top 20 global drug makers have set up research and development centers in China. Yes, it’s cheaper to do research there, but, as one auditor said, “with cheaper research comes greater risk.”
For example, researchers did not report the results of animal studies about a drug already being tested in humans, a breach described by drug researchers as a “mortal sin.” Auditors also report that Chinese workers did not properly monitor clinical trials and they paid hospitals in ways that could be seen as bribery.
Free trade is bringing us fish raised in China’s sick rivers. By the time the fish swim to the fish ponds, the water has accumulated raw sewage, agricultural pesticides, and the heavy metal output of poorly regulated industrial plants.
China’s planned purchase of pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc. for $4.7 billion has U.S. officials concerned about how this could affect the safety and availability of heparin. That’s an important blood thinner derived from pig intestines that is widely used in U.S. heart surgery and kidney dialysis. In 2007 and 2008, 94 Americans died after being treated with contaminated heparin.
An increasing percentage of vaccines is manufactured in China and sold in U.S. pharmacies. China boasts of 30 vaccine-producing companies that will soon be producing one billion doses a year.
