Dangerous ingredients in medicines from China

May 6, 2007

The NY times has a report this morning about China exporting diethylene glycol marked as 99.5% glycerine: http://www.nytimes. com/2007/ 05/06/world/ americas/ 06poison. html?hp= & pagewanted=all

or http://www.iht. com/articles/ 2007/05/05/ news/06poison. phpThe "glycerine" is mixed into cough syrups and other liquid pharmaceuticals, and when ingested ...

"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." This substitution has been made as early as the 1930s, when poisonings from diethylene glycol prompted the formation of the FDA. More recently, mass poisonings with fatalities in the hundreds to many thousands have resulted in China, Panama, Bangladesh, India, Haiti, Argentina, and Nigeria. Nobody has been prosecuted because the manufacturers are not licensed to sell pharma-grade product, and do not claim that the product is pharma-grade ... only 99.5% pure. Thus, no laws have been broken.This is one of the scariest, unbelievable pieces I've come across in a long time. And not to be complacent, the diethylene glycol came very close to making it into U.S. product. You owe it to yourself to read this entire article, if you want to be informed of the utter ineptitude, ignorance, and deception at all levels of marketing and regulation - starting from a small production shop in China, all the way to the FDA and agencies in other countries. And what is so disturbing, is that nobody seems to be able to put a stop to these practices.

A few days ago, a question to a person from an herb & supplement company about vitamins, revealed that a very large proportion of vitamins are now manufactured in China. It seems prudent for everyone's safety, to make careful enquiries about the source of products being purchased, and the source of materials in that product. Start letting every supplier of goods know that you are concerned.

An ordinary bottle of over-the-counter cough syrup could kill you. What if you had been traveling in Panama last year and needed some? And the cough syrup was manufactured by the Panamanian government, not knowing the supposed "glycerin" going into it was actually diethylene glycol, and totally unaware where the stuff really came from!!

Unbelievable. Scary. Please inform your other health groups.

May 8, 2007

This is terrible! Another black eye for China.

Cyndi

In a message dated 5/6/2007 1:42:16 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, barbara3 writes:

The NY times has a report this morning about China exporting diethylene glycol marked as 99.5% glycerine: http://www.nytimes. com/2007/ 05/06/world/ americas/ 06poison. html?hp= & pagewanted=all

or http://www.iht. com/articles/ 2007/05/05/ news/06poison. phpThe "glycerine" is mixed into cough syrups and other liquid pharmaceuticals, and when ingested ...

"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." This substitution has been made as early as the 1930s, when poisonings from diethylene glycol prompted the formation of the FDA. More recently, mass poisonings with fatalities in the hundreds to many thousands have resulted in China, Panama, Bangladesh, India, Haiti, Argentina, and Nigeria. Nobody has been prosecuted because the manufacturers are not licensed to sell pharma-grade product, and do not claim that the product is pharma-grade ... only 99.5% pure. Thus, no laws have been broken.This is one of the scariest, unbelievable pieces I've come across in a long time. And not to be complacent, the diethylene glycol came very close to making it into U.S. product. You owe it to yourself to read this entire article, if you want to be informed of the utter ineptitude, ignorance, and deception at all levels of marketing and regulation - starting from a small production shop in China, all the way to the FDA and agencies in other countries. And what is so disturbing, is that nobody seems to be able to put a stop to these practices.

A few days ago, a question to a person from an herb & supplement company about vitamins, revealed that a very large proportion of vitamins are now manufactured in China. It seems prudent for everyone's safety, to make careful enquiries about the source of products being purchased, and the source of materials in that product. Start letting every supplier of goods know that you are concerned.

An ordinary bottle of over-the-counter cough syrup could kill you. What if you had been traveling in Panama last year and needed some? And the cough syrup was manufactured by the Panamanian government, not knowing the supposed "glycerin" going into it was actually diethylene glycol, and totally unaware where the stuff really came from!!

Unbelievable. Scary. Please inform your other health groups.

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