F.D.A. Identifies Tainted Heparin in 11 Countries

NY Times ^ | April 22, 2008 | GARDINER HARRIS

[neverdem]

WASHINGTON — A contaminated blood thinner from China has been found in drug supplies in 11 countries, and federal officials said Monday they had discovered a clear link between the contaminant and severe reactions now associated with 81 deaths in the United States.

But a Chinese official disputed the assertion that the contaminant found in the drug, heparin, caused any deaths and insisted that his country’s inspectors be allowed to inspect the American plant where the finished heparin vials were made. He said any future agreement to allow American inspections of Chinese firms should be reciprocal.

“We don’t have a strong evidence to show that it is heparin or its contaminant that caused the problem,” said the official, Ning Chen, second secretary at the Chinese Embassy.

Mr. Chen said that illnesses associated with contaminated heparin had occurred only in the United States, which he said suggested that the problem arose in this country.

Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug center, said that German regulators uncovered a cluster of illnesses among dialysis patients who took contaminated heparin. She said Chinese officials had conceded that heparin produced in their country contained a contaminant, though they say it was not connected to the illnesses.

“Heparin should not be contaminated, regardless of whether or not that contamination caused acute adverse events,” Dr. Woodcock said. “We are fairly confident based on the biological information that we have had that this contaminant is capable of triggering these adverse reactions.”

The dispute is a sign of growing tensions between China and the United States over the safety of Chinese imports. China has in recent years exported poisonous toothpaste, lead-painted toys, toxic pet food, tainted fish and now, contaminated medicine...

[donna]

America is no longer a free enterprise country when consumers are forced to used Chinese products.

[detective]

Why are we still paying the Chinese to provide us with contaminated products? We should ban all imports of food, medicine and other similar products from China.

[neverdem]

Ping

[farlander]

How, exactly, are they forced ?

The free market will fix this *very* quickly.

[Question Liberal Authority]

Mark Halperin has been tainted for years.

[balticbeau]

The press is using a wrong adjective to describe this event. The drug was not “contaminated” but “doctored”. It was not because the production facility or a worker was contaminated. I remember recently reading that a substitute ingredient was found in the medication. This other ingredient was chemically engineered to pass the required testing before the manufacturing process. The substitute ingredient was very much cheaper than the specified ingredient. This was a willful & criminal act.

[redstateconfidential]

China’s Summer Olympics 2009, Goons and Junk!

[neverdem]

Soyuz capsule carrying South Korea's first astronaut lands off target in bone-jarring descent

THE IPCC: ON THE RUN AT LAST (glo-bull warming fanatics can't find support data)

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[Calpernia]

I still wonder what the last paragraph on this article means:

"Contaminated products from China have been an ongoing worry for the FDA. If the heparin contamination turns out to be deliberate, it would be reminiscent of last year's scandal when a Chinese company was charged with adding the toxic chemical melamine to an ingredient used in U.S. pet food that killed thousands of dogs and cats. The melamine let the ingredient pass chemical inspections for protein content, the Associated Press reported."

I still wonder what the last paragraph on this article means:

"Contaminated products from China have been an ongoing worry for the FDA. If the heparin contamination turns out to be deliberate, it would be reminiscent of last year's scandal when a Chinese company was charged with adding the toxic chemical melamine to an ingredient used in U.S. pet food that killed thousands of dogs and cats. The melamine let the ingredient pass chemical inspections for protein content, the Associated Press reported."

[OKIEDOC]

When will America wise up about the shoddy Chinese made products.

The Chinese are not exactly the early day Japanese.

[neverdem]

Science and Medicine: Melamine

Robert Poppenga: It is unlikely that melamine itself is causing the pet illnesses. The current thinking is that melamine in combination with cyanuric acid (another contaminant in the wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate used in the pet foods) may be responsible, although this has not been proven. There is no reason to add melamine to pet food - melamine is believed to have been added to the wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate to artificially increase their content of nitrogen (and as a result their apparent protein concentration). The more protein in the material, the higher the selling price.

David Brown: I think everyone is pretty confident in saying that melamine and the other compounds were not put in pet food for a purpose that was not, at base, fraudulent, deceptive, or possibly accidental. There was no high-minded "purpose."

[zip]

ping

[donna]

Sure, just like the produce we are still getting from Mexico.

[river rat]

"Mr. Chen said that illnesses associated with contaminated heparin had occurred only in the United States, which he said suggested that the problem arose in this country.

A convenient "suggestion"..

It could also be explained as the United States being the only county sophisticated enough to recognize and identify the threat.

It could also be explained as ONLY the lots sent to the United States were "contaminated"...

Without much of a stretch, one could be led to believe it was INTENTIONAL.......can you say "terrorism"?

More likely - it was a Capitalist GREED that drove the Chinese supplier.

Need we be reminded that EVERY case of Chinese product contamination or VIOLATION OF SPECIFICATIONS was ALWAYS proved to be an INTENTIONAL ACT BY A CHINESE SUPPLIER wishing to "appear to meet specifications the CHEAP way"

[JACKRUSSELL]

A ping list dedicated to exposing the quality, safety and security issues of food and other products made in China.


Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.

(This can be a high volume ping list.)

[Calpernia]

If that is true; then I guess the FDA shouldn’t have made the official statement I posted, huh?

[Dustbunny]

We will never learn that Communists are not to be trusted in any way, shape or form.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Made in China ping!

(Anybody got a Made In China ping list?)

[PGalt]

Thanks very much for posting. I’ve been following this story with interest. My wife was given heparin several months ago when this story was breaking.