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U.S. Dependency on China for Vital Drugs Must be Curtailed, Says AMAC Action

Posted on Friday, December 11, 2020
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by AMAC, Bob Carlstrom
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19 Comments
China

WASHINGTON, DC, Dec 11 — Here’s a scary thought courtesy of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission: “China is the world’s largest producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The United States is heavily dependent on drugs that are either sourced from China or include APIs sourced from China. This is especially true for generic drugs, which comprise most prescriptions filled in the United States. Drug companies are not required to list the API country of origin on their product labels; therefore, U.S. consumers may be unknowingly accepting risks associated with drugs originating from China.”

According to Bob Carlstrom, president of AMAC Action, the senior advocacy affiliate of the Association of Mature American Citizens, “One of the most serious issues the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted is the United States’ dependence on a hostile communist regime for pharmaceutical production. This dependence makes America especially vulnerable to the threats the Chinese government made to ban medical product exports at a time when they are needed the most.”

Carlstrom says that AMAC’s membership wants something to be done about it, noting that a poll of its membership showed an overwhelming demand that the U.S. needs to take measures to protect our nation’s supply of pharmaceuticals.  Ninety-eight percent of the 41,340 respondents who participated in the survey — 38,520 of them — expressed support for the provisions a bill that AMAC backs and that was introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton [R-AR] and co-sponsored by Senator Ted Cruz [R-TX].

“The Protecting Our Pharmaceutical Supply Chain from China Act of 2020 [S. 3537] signals a change that is long overdue. In concert with President Trump’s mission for transparency in healthcare, this bill requires Health and Human Services to maintain a list of the country of origin of all drugs marketed in the United States. It wisely bans the use of federal funds for the purchase of drugs made in China, instead compelling federal health care programs to purchase drugs made elsewhere. S. 3537 also reforms medication labeling by requiring drug companies list drug ingredients and their country of origin on the labels of imported and domestically produced finished products. Moreover, it prudently provides incentives for manufacturers to produce drugs in the United States.”

Carlstrom says that the bill has a high priority on AMAC Action’s agenda and will continue to pursue support and passage through the end of the current Senate session and beyond.

About AMAC Action

AMAC Action is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy organization created to assist Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC] members with grassroots participation on Capitol Hill and at the local level through its advocacy programs.

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Mark Ronck
Mark Ronck
3 years ago

Time has come to stop the importation of drugs from China and to bring home and produce our own drugs. This needs to be done now.

LTC S
LTC S
3 years ago

The problem is us. We want the cheapest (everything). We don’t care if it’s made in a sweat shop or American jobs are lost because we buy China instead of Made in America. We’ll buy the cheapest because that’s the way we are. Our products cost more because our workers cost more, because we tax our products numerous times and we try to inspect our products to ensure safety. The problem is us, we can “not” buy China, pay more for made in America and shut them down. But we’re not going to do that are we – no, we’re going to yell bad government for letting China sell us these cheap products that we keep buying. And if someone tries to change this by making their products cost the same as our products so we can compete with China we vote him out of office and put someone in there who’ll make peace with China so they can keep doing what they’re doing – getting us more and more dependent on them. In this case, the enemy is us. We can stop China……buy American. We can make anything that any other country can make but if you’re not going to buy it because it cost $1.00 more….you’re supporting China.

NeverBiden
NeverBiden
3 years ago

I’m sure that Biden/Harris will soon allow any China crap product to be imported without the “made in China” or
“fabrique au chine” mark.

NeverBiden
NeverBiden
3 years ago

Thank you AMAC. We need to go further. We need to shut down the entire Chinese economy.
Aggression toward China is required. There is no getting along with China or Biden.

STEVEN BECKER
STEVEN BECKER
3 years ago

WE SHOULD CUT OFF ALL RELATIONS WITH CHINA. NO DIPLOMATS, NO TRAGE, NOTHING. WE CAN MAKE OUR OWN BATTERIES THAT ALWAYS LEAK.

Rich
Rich
3 years ago

We have been so much in love with China and all the cheap products that we consume, it will be very difficult to wean ourselves from our habit. The very thought of accepting medical pharmaceuticals from the same country that brought us a killer virus is amazing. Sleepy Joe will cozy up to China once again and the cycle will start all over. Mentally weak Americans will now accept anything that will allow the government to “provide for our needs” regardless of personal cost. America as we have known it will cease to exist. The young that have been brain washed into accepting the socialist doctrine will one day live in bondage.

Boomer
Boomer
3 years ago

List inert ingredients also. For those with Celiac disease, a gluten binder means another manufacturer is needed.

Melanie Ann Clark
Melanie Ann Clark
3 years ago

I’m scared. I take a number of prescription meds and I don’t know how to get off them.

Rik
Rik
3 years ago

Part of the problem is that the American people rely too heavily on prescription chemical medications. I learned 20 years ago when after I had kidney stones 2 Januarys in a row, the doctor told me that I would keep getting these because I had high uric acid. He told me I had to change my diet and prescribed a drug to help control my uric acid. When I asked him how long would I be taking this drug? He replied: “probably the rest of my life!” … I then thought “then you’re NOT healing me if I’m to use this the rest of my life!” … I knew people with high uric acid levels and they got “temporary relief” from eating cherries. And I’ve been taking 1,000 mg of tart cherry capsules daily. I never filled that prescription and I’ve never changed my diet nor gotten another kidney stone unless I got off the tart cherry. And guess what? No chemical caused side effects either. So because of that experience I don’t trust the medical profession who seem to me to be in bed with the pharmaceutical companies. But, if most people are using drugs, relying on another country to produce them, especially Communist China is an awful stupid idea.

PaulE
PaulE
3 years ago

Well this entire effort hinges on whether President Trump is still President for another four years. If the Democrats are allowed to steal this election,, then you can forget about this and any other meaningful legislation to make us less dependent on China being enacted into law. If anything, with a Democrat in the White House, we will become much more dependent and deferential to China going forward. That is just the reality of the situation.

The driving force behind restoring some semblance of sanity to the absurd international trade deals we’ve signed onto for the last 30 years was President Trump,. Whether you want to admit it or not, in the case of the Democrats and the Never Trumpers who hang out here trolling, President trump was the first President to do more than just make empty speeches about it.

One sided trade deals from Presidents Clinton all the way through Obama, which largely resulted in eroding our manufacturing base for everything across the board and costing us tens of millions of middle and upper middle class jobs were being systematically addressed by Trump. The Democrats and the Never Trumpers may not have liked his tactics, but then again neither Democrats nor the RINOs ever did anything of substance to correct the issue when they were in power. So without President Trump in the White House, driving for reform and a more balanced, fair and reciprocal trade environment with China, this sort of proposed legislation stands zero chance of being signed into law by any Democrat President. Neither President Xi nor China’s CCP would benefit from its passage, so he simply won’t allow any Democrat President to enact it.

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