Heparin Contamination May Have Been Deliberate, F.D.A. Says

Heparin Contamination May Have Been Deliberate, F.D.A. Says

www.nytimes.com

Federal drug regulators believe that a contaminant detected in a crucial blood thinner that has caused 81 deaths was deliberately added.

“F.D.A.’s working hypothesis is that this was intentional contamination, but this is not yet proven,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the agency’s drug center, told the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in written testimony on Tuesday.

Some heparin batches...consisted of more than 30 percent of the contaminant....

(visit the link for the full news article)

Much has been speculated about tainted goods from China. Now it seems that there is an actual smoking gun, though the suspicion that the heparin batches were deliberately tainted has not been fully confirmed.

I have said before that I'm okay with all manner of goods that are produced in China, including guns, golf clubs, clothes, or possibly computers, but trusting China to provide my medications is just a little too much.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 2008/4/29 by GradyPhilpott]

reply to post by GradyPhilpott


Finally something we can agree on

I would prefer if my medication not come from China either, as a matter of fact I would prefer my medication only come from the USA. However, I would prefer even more than that if I didn't take any big pharma medication period

Ah! Common ground.

I'm sure there are many topics on which we agree.

It actually looks as if, even if China produced contaminated heparin ingredients, there is some blame that falls on Baxter and the FDA.

But Mr. Nelson was even more critical of Baxter International, the company that sold contaminated heparin in the United States. Baxter bought contaminated heparin ingredients from Changzhou SPL from 2004 through 2008 but did not inspect the facility itself until September 2007.

www.nytimes.com...

Baxter, of course, lays the blame on the Chinese.

CEO Parkinson said at the hearing: "We're alarmed that one of our products was used, in what appears to have been a deliberate scheme, to adulterate a life-saving medication, and that people have suffered as a result."

The contaminant was an altered form of chondroitin sulfate, a drug that mimics the affects of Heparin. The company said during the hearing that the drug was in the batches before it reached Baxter's supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories.

www.forbes.com...

The very fact that the contaminant is a substance that mimics the effect of halperin is pretty good evidence that this was an attempt to enhance profits on the part of the Chinese manufacturer.

Still Baxter should have been inspecting the plant all along.

Lawmakers charge that the FDA is underfunded and ill-equipped to monitor drugs appropriately.

“Our investigations have revealed an F.D.A. woefully lacking in the personnel, effective policies and the will at the highest level to perform the duties entrusted to it by the Congress and the American people,” said Representative John D. Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “Our citizens can no longer trust that their food, drugs or medical devices are safe when F.D.A. says they are.”

Even Republicans say that the agency’s budget needs a substantial increase.

www.nytimes.com...

Of course it was deliberate. It's the precursor to our next big conflict.

All the newly developed problems with their exported products is not by accident. Dog food, baby food, kids toys, medications, canned food, the list goes on and on in a very recent and increasing in frequency timeline.

I see a simple pattern being followed, they are simply showing us that they are in more control than we know. They quite literally have the power to cause great damage to our country without engaging in combat.

Be it financial, physical, or emotional they are whittling down our self assurance as a country. They show not only how dependent we are on them and their products that have largely helped create our current tone of carefree living. As well as diminishing our ever weakening outlook on our governments ability to keep us all safe and sound. Break their morale and they'll be helpless... it's an old strategy.

A great many things that we have become dependent on as luxury or false need will continue to degrade our a country until we wake up and use what we have right in our own backyards.

Spot on Grady!

I hope that the market forces which balance the trade economy are shifted by people who refuse to purchase Chinese medication.

Sure we have no problem buying t-shirts from them, because there is minimal risk (even though the quality is poor). But to buy medication from China is an unacceptable risk.

I only take medications produced in the USA, UK or India personally. I'm still alive, so one presumes that the quality from these countries is adequate.

reply to post by 44soulslayer


But, you have no way of knowing where the ingredients in the medications were produced. Yes they were assembled in a decent place, but do they contain Chinese gelatin, or worse, Chinese produced drug content? I doubt there's any way to find out.

Originally posted by sc2099
I doubt there's any way to find out.

Of course, there is a way to find out. Look at the source materal I provided in my previoius posts.

In fact, the mystery is practically solved.

I saw this coming about a year ago when the pet food issue and the first rumblings of lead tainted toys started up. At that point a law was passed in our household which was shared with all of our family and friends: Absolutely no toys, children's items, food items, or anything which comes in contact with the mouth or mucous membranes which is made in China, Vietnam, Korea, or Mexico is allowed in our home. We bought our son Megablocks from Canada, wooden toys from American mom & pop toy manufacturers, and some oddball toys from the UK for Christmas and his birthday, I stopped buying my beloved little tins of smoked oysters from China (the locally produced ones are tastier anyway), and we found a store in the area which carries everything from toothbrushes to napkins that are all made in the USA.

I'll buy my electronics from them, but I will never again open myself to possible contamination from their shoddy, intentionally dangerous merchandise again.

Remember when people were getting drugs from Canada because they were so much cheaper than ours? Then the media and the government started the campaign to stop people from buying the canadian drugs and came out and said they did not want people getting drugs from there because they might not be safe and up to American standards. LOL

But it is okay to import them from a country that many people say is something like a hundred years behind us in some technologies.

In most ways Im a free trader. Some might even call me an evagalist of capitalism. I do think some things, by law, should be made in the USA. Weapons, millitary technology,etc. However, given how many of our drugs are manugactured overseas without incident at great cost savings for the consumer, I dont think medicine is one.
I will say this thoug, for bayer to purchase a product for 3 years without testing it, or inspecting the facillities, with no quality control whatsoever, if simply ludicrous.

Originally posted by sc2099
reply to post by 44soulslayer

 

But, you have no way of knowing where the ingredients in the medications were produced. Yes they were assembled in a decent place, but do they contain Chinese gelatin, or worse, Chinese produced drug content? I doubt there's any way to find out.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're talking about drug intermediates (generic chemical components of drugs)?

Even if a drug company uses intermediates from an unacknowledged source, they put it through stringent safety checks. Governmental oversight bodies like the FDA/ NICE/ MHRA dont have the time, money or the incentive to do this. A company HAS to do safety checks, otherwise they destroy their reputation.

reply to post by goose


The real reason not to buy drugs in Canada is that you're in effect stealing from the Canadians. Their drug prices are low because they are subsidized by Canadians' tax dollars.

When Americans cross the border or otherwise buy those drugs they're taking advantage of the Canadian people.

Of course, the pharmacies don't care, but that doesn't make it right.

[edit on 2008/5/1 by GradyPhilpott]

reply to post by 44soulslayer


You're correct. Baxter bought the drug ingredients from Chinese manufacturers.

Baxter didn't do the proper inspections and maybe the FDA fell down on the job, as well.

I don't know if Baxter has ruined its reputation, but this can't help.

[edit on 2008/4/30 by GradyPhilpott]

reply to post by GradyPhilpott


Yeah my bad I think I said bayer by accident earlier.
This is what hapens when there no leadership at a co.