The China Chronicles

Chinese Counterfeits and American Failures," the title of a congressional hearing on April 29, laid bare a shocking problem. At least 81 U.S. deaths appear to be the result of the Communist Chinese counterfeiting an ingredient in a blood-thinner widely used in surgery, plus the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) failure to inspect the Chinese imports.

The blood-thinner or anticoagulant called heparin, which is made from pig intestines, had been safely used for about 70 years. What's different today is that most heparin is now imported from China, a country that has no compunction about putting poisons in its products to make them cheaper for the world market.

The CEO of Baxter International, which supplies half the heparin used in the U.S., accused the Chinese of having engaged in a "deliberate scheme to adulterate" the medication by using a poisonous product (an altered form of chondroitin sulfate) that mimics the effects of heparin. U.S. patients suffered severe side effects such as abdominal pain, decreased blood pressure, burning sensations, chest pain, diarrhea, dizziness, loss of consciousness, vomiting, and death.

The FDA didn't discover this deception because the FDA inspects China's drugmakers only every 13 years. Government auditors admit that the FDA conducted only 30 inspections of the more than 3,200 foreign drug companies during the last fiscal year, and plans to conduct only 50 this year.

Some congressmen at the hearing urged the FDA to inspect foreign companies every two or three years, but FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach said, "I don't believe that's the solution to the problem. It's much more complex." Indeed it is.

The FDA would need 500 more inspectors to inspect foreign companies with the same regularity as domestic companies. That would cost seven times the current budget. Heparin is made in thousands of small unregulated, unlicensed, unsupervised family home workshops where three to five people stir pig intestines in a concrete vat to transform them into a dry substance.

It's impossible to trace the ingredients back to the slaughterhouses. There is no paper trail to document the supply chain, there are no records, and documents if any are easy to fake. There is no tagging of the pigs, monitoring of the feed, or files on each animal's vaccinations. Since mid-2006, China's pig herds have suffered serious outbreaks of a viral illness commonly known as blue-ear disease. Sick animals are supposed to be rejected by slaughterhouses, but enforcement is lax.

These home heparin workshops are not regulated by the Chinese because they are designated as chemical makers, not drug producers or pharmaceuticals. Neither China nor the United States has any current procedure or future plan to make the ingredients consistent, clean, or traceable.

The U.S. apparently has no plan to ensure that imports of Chinese ingredients for our prescription drugs, food, medical devices, and animal feed meet U.S. safety standards. When will Americans wake up to the high cost of "free" trade?

Update on Chinese Imports

Now that 80% of ingredients in our prescription drugs are imported, mostly from China, is anybody inspecting them to ascertain that they meet U.S. safety standards? The FDA does only 21 inspections annually of the 3,200 Chinese drugmaking facilities. The FDA is now trying to establish offices in three Chinese locations as a base for only eight U.S. inspectors, but China has yet to give its okay.

U.S. cats and dogs were sickened and killed by Chinese pet food that had been adulterated by a chemical used in plastic, melamine, which was added to wheat gluten to fake higher protein levels. The Chinese poisoned toothpaste and children's anti-fever medicines by using diethylene glycol instead of glycerin. Millions of Chinese-made toys had to be recalled because of lead paint used at unacceptable levels. Some 6,000 baby T-shirts were recently recalled in Japan after detection of high levels of formaldehyde.

The FDA calls the contamination "a world-wide problem" that has appeared in 11 countries. Recalls of blood-thinner heparin have taken place in Germany, Denmark, France, Italy and Japan.

Update on Do's & Don'ts for Olympics

Don't bring any printed materials critical of China. Don't plan on holding any rallies or demonstrations in China. Don't think you are guaranteed an entry visa because you hold tickets to an Olympic event. Don't bring into China "anything detrimental to China's politics, economy, culture or moral standards, including printed material, film negatives, photos, records, movies, tape recordings, videotapes, optical discs and other items." Burning or soiling the Chinese flag or emblems is a criminal offense. That is advice issued by the Beijing Organizing Committee in a document listing 57 frequently asked questions.

All rallies, demonstrations and marches, at athletic sites or anywhere else, are banned during the Olympics unless approved in advance by the Communist Chinese government.

Before awarded the privilege of hosting the 2008 Olympics, China promised in 2001 to improve its human rights record. But China and the International Olympic Committee have never released the text of their contract for the Games, in contrast with the policy of previous Olympic host cities. New York Times, 6-3-08

Update on Chinese Human Rights

The Institute on Religion and Democracy describes many disturbing developments. The China Aid Association reports a series of recent arrests and detentions targeting house churches across China and says that the sudden increase of incidents involving both the Religious Affairs Bureau and the Public Security Bureau is indicative of a crackdown.

The government appears to be beginning a comprehensive effort to go after Christians. In Xinjiang Province, officials have posted signs asking citizens to report any "evil cult activity," language that is understood to mean house churches. Two Christians in Xinjiang Province have been charged with the serious crime of being "separatists." A Bible school in Hebei Province was raided on May 13, the school closed, the property confiscated, and the students from various provinces forced to return home. On May 15, government officials in Hebei Province broke up a prayer service (called an "illegal gathering") where two dozen Christians had gathered to pray for the victims of the earthquake and for the Olympics. Because of China's one-child policy, many parents lost their only child in the earthquake.