How is the Unites States going to free itself from its dependency on Chinese medication? Politicians need to shed a little more light on this subject, which the people of our nation may find quite disturbing.

The United States is dependent upon China, a communist country, for the majority of its pharmaceuticals and medical devices, which is a national security threat. We are dependent on them to the point that if China stopped shipping pharmaceuticals to the United States, our hospitals and clinics would be closed within a few months or so.

In addition, we have to be more concerned about the basic safety and well-being of American people taking medicine from China. Unfortunately, the pharmaceuticals from China are not always the best quality. Chinese superlabs use cheap drugs to cut the costs of their pharmaceuticals. According to Tom Cotton, “this fact became tragically apparent in 2008, when more than 246 Americans were killed by a tainted batch of blood thinner that was made in China. Investigations later revealed that the blood thinner had been spiked with cheaper drugs to save money at unregulated labs and farms in China.”.

The United States is currently developing ways to protect itself from China’s control over medicine. Unfortunately, we still have solutions to discover and policies to develop before we are completely free from their drug supply, or in a situation where we can survive independently without their drugs.

To begin, the United States implemented the “Protecting Our Pharmaceutical Supply Chain from China Act of 2020”, which will force pharmaceutical companies in the United States to provide more detailed information about the active ingredients in their drugs. This will inform the consumer about where the ingredients are sourced and where the drugs are made. The American people need to know that information, and its not always readily accessible. U.S. pharamaceutical companies’ customer service teams don’t always have that information available in their systems either. With this knowledge, the consumer is able to determine the quality and consumption safety of the product.

In additon, once the “Pharmaceutical Independence Long-Term Readiness Reform Act” is passed, more of our pharmaceuticals will be manufactured in the United States. In the future, I foresee more bills being passed that enforce high quality standards of all pharmaceuticals being sold in the United States.

Eventually, all pharmaceuticals, not just those that are made in the United States, will have to meet international quality standards before hitting the shelf. This is the only way that we can protect the consumer from cheap and deadly medicine.

 
Resources:
Cotton, Tom. “CHINA STOLE US CAPACITY TO MAKE DRUGS. WE MUST TAKE IT BACK”. March 25, 2020. https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/op-eds/china-stole-us-capacity-to-make-drugs-we-must-take-it-back.