In yet one more instance of tainted Chinese products, the New York Times reported today that many pharmaceutical ingredients exported from China are often made by chemical companies that are neither certified nor inspected by Chinese drug regulators.  With few regulations and little oversight, Chinese companies are shipping adulterated and counterfeit ingredients that end up in both developing countries and for sale on the Internet.

The increase in defective Chinese medicines comes on the heels of products recalls for defective and unsafe Chinese pet foods, tires, steel, and other consumer goods.  Companies have found China to be a profitable manufacturing platform due to low labor costs and a lack of workplace and environmental regulations.  Unfortunately, this quest for cheaper production has led to corner-cutting and the use of substandard and unsafe components.

The unfortunate irony is that, as more Americans lose good-paying manufacturing jobs due to predatory trade from China, they can not afford quality healthcare.  Their one option may be to purchase medications online—medications produced cheaply but improperly in China. 

It’s a flawed cycle, and one that AAM will continue to look at in the coming days.  In the next few weeks, we’ll be reporting in greater depth about the overall safety picture for imports from China.  Our findings should raise more concerns.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 at 6:59 pm and is filed under Holding China Accountable, Economic Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.