Our Dependence on China

Our Pharmaceutical Dependence on China

China has been a thorn in the side of American steelmakers since the communist nation joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.

Approximately 50,000 United Steelworker (USW) jobs were eliminated as China and its partners in crime dumped inexpensive, poor-quality steel into the United States market.

But since the President’s steel and aluminum tariffs, it is estimated that nearly 7,000 American steelworker jobs have been added to domestic mills.

While this is especially good news for SOAR members who need a well-funded health program and pension fund, China may be hitting retirees in another scary way.

Most SOAR members are baby boomers that unfortunately develop a variety of health problems that require vital medications.

Just as we once assumed that our steel structures were erected with American-made steel, today we assume that our medications are made in America with close monitoring by the Food and Drug Administration.

But the shocking news is that 80 percent of active ingredients in America’s pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter drugs are manufactured in China and India, according to Rosemary Gibson and Janardan Prasad Singh, authors of a new book “China RX: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine.

Many of the drugs that Americans depend upon, including antibiotics, vitamin C and even cancer drugs are made in China with little regulation.

“The FDA says the drugs are safe. But the outsourcing of America’s medicine production is so complex it seems impossible to ensure that they are safe,” Gibson and Singh write.

In the last ten years, the FDA has announced recalls of Chinese-made medicines, some of which have even caused death. 

If China didn’t disrupt your life when you were working in the mill, there is a chance it will cause irreparable damage when you are ill.

Jeff Bonior, Staff Writer for the Alliance for American Manufacturing