From China to Panama, a Trail of Poisoned Medicine

[cy]

IN CHINA At least 18 people, most of them in Guangdong Province, died in a month last year after they ingested contaminated medicine.

The kidneys fail first. Then the central nervous system begins to misfire. Paralysis spreads, making breathing difficult, then often impossible without assistance. In the end, most victims die.

Chemical country The Taixing countryside in eastern China, near the Yangtze Delta. Forty-six barrels of toxic syrup followed a path from a factory in the nearby small town of Hengxiang to Panama.

Many of them are children, poisoned at the hands of their unsuspecting parents.

The syrupy poison, diethylene glycol, is an indispensable part of the modern world, an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in some antifreeze.

It is also a killer. And the deaths, if not intentional, are often no accident.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/w...ei=5087 &em&en=2ea28ff62cbc7c0f&ex=1178683200

 

[bfg9000]

IN THE UNITED STATES in 1938, 107 Americans (mostly children) died after consuming a medicine containing a diethylene glycol carrier. This directly led to the establishment of our FDA.

Sometimes you have to look at a stoplight and wonder who died in order for it to be there.

 

[ringzero]

IN THE UNITED STATES in 1938, 107 Americans (mostly children) died after consuming a medicine containing a diethylene glycol carrier. This directly led to the establishment of our FDA....Sometimes you have to look at a stoplight and wonder who died in order for it to be there.

The FDA did little to nothing to stop counterfit glycerin imports into the US, just as it did little to stop poisoned wheat gluten.

Phoney glycerin was imported into the US, but it was discovered by the company that purchased it. It's probably mainly luck that poisonings like this haven't happened lately in the US.

Imports of food and pharma chemicals from China are cheap, but very unreliable and dangerous. Note that Panama didn't even know they were buying Chinese glycerine, they thought it was from Spain.

Think of all those poor Panamanians who died or were paralyzed so that some counterfitter in China could make a few bucks that he gambled away.

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[bfg9000]

The FDA did little to nothing to stop counterfit glycerin imports into the US, just as it did little to stop poisoned wheat gluten.

Phoney glycerin was imported into the US, but it was discovered by the company that purchased it.

Hello, expecting the FDA to have inspectors checking every can of dog food is like expecting the CDC to prevent all disease. It's simply not their job and not possible.

Their job is to rapidly identify the sources of problems to reduce further deaths, and to enforce the law. Since crimes do not stop just because they're illegal, their work never ends. It's the job of private companies and citizens to report their discoveries to the FDA, just like how hospitals and individual doctors report problems to the CDC.

The USA was 162 years old before Congress decided to pass the Food, Drug and Cosmetics act. The PRC is only 58 years old right now so in many respects it is like the "wild west" (east?) and nearly completely unregulated. That's why crap like this is happening there now, just as it did here 69 years ago.

 

[bitslammer]

It's also unreasonable to expect the FDA to be able to be effective when used as a political pawn. The current administration has from day one tried to control and diminish some aspects of the FDA's responsibility.

From the article: http://www.medicalconsumers.org/pages/ScienceUnderAttackByBushAdministration.html

In a recent letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tommy Thompson, a dozen members of Congress expressed concern that "scientific decision-making is being subverted by ideology and that scientific information that does not fit the Administration's agenda is being suppressed."

Science should not be be biased but the FDA is, has, and likely will be an agency where true science some second to the political whims of politicians. I doubt we'll ever see a a truly independent agency that can act acccording to unbiased research. That's just too scary for most of the politicians. They want control over everything. Birth control, abortion, the RU486 pill, stem cell research, cloning, and many other issues are just too deeply rooted in idealogical and political beliefs.

Look back a few centuries when the church was able to control the likes of people like Galileo who presented science that was contrary to the churches desired doctrine. Sadly we haven't changed all that much and seem to be sliding backward some.

 

[ringzero]

Hello, expecting the FDA to have inspectors checking every can of dog food is like expecting the CDC to prevent all disease. It's simply not their job and not possible.

Hello, that was exactly the point I was attempting to make. People who expect the FDA - a typically inept Federal bureaucracy - to protect them from this sort of thing are fools.

The FDA is however, pretty good at preventing seriously ill Americans from obtaining lifesaving drugs they need, unless they are wealthy enough to be treated overseas.

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[bfg9000]

Hello, that was exactly the point I was attempting to make. People who expect the FDA - a typically inept Federal bureaucracy - to protect them from this sort of thing are fools.

The FDA is however, pretty good at preventing seriously ill Americans from obtaining lifesaving drugs they need, unless they are wealthy enough to be treated overseas.

Then we agree that the FDA can only warn manufacturers what's illegal, which may be all that is necessary. It appears to have worked well here for 69 years, since we've managed to avoid cases like these while China, with its death penalty in case anything goes wrong, has not.

The function of a stoplight is not to prevent people from running red lights, but merely to warn them when it is illegal to cross. Logically it should be more effective than no stoplight and the death penalty in case of accident.

Incidentally the very same FDA researcher who discovered diethylene glycol to be responsible for the American deaths also prevented the sale of Thalidomide in this country. She is Frances Oldham Kelsey. Some 10,000 malformed "Thalidomide babies" have been born, some missing both arms and legs, since Thalidomide was made over-the-counter in Germany and available in 50 countries including Canada.

 

[ringzero]

Then we agree that the FDA can only warn manufacturers what's illegal, which may be all that is necessary. It appears to have worked well here for 69 years, since we've managed to avoid cases like these while China, with its death penalty in case anything goes wrong, has not.

How well the FDA has worked during its existence - whether the number of lives saved by the FDA is greater than the number of lives lost due to the FDA - is a topic that is frequently debated.

Although FDA may have done some good things, (almost unavoidable given how many things with which FDA meddles) overall I believe it has had a decidely negative impact on the US.

Incidentally the very same FDA researcher who discovered diethylene glycol to be responsible for the American deaths also prevented the sale of Thalidomide in this country.

I believe the "FDA saved us from thalidomide" story has been debunked. When I have the time I'll point to an article on this topic.

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