Amid reports of poisonous toys and tainted food products, the New York Times has a lengthy report on unregulated and often deadly drugs entering the world market from China:
Pharmaceutical ingredients exported from China are often made by chemical companies that are neither certified nor inspected by Chinese drug regulators, The New York Times has found.
Because the chemical companies are not required to meet even minimal drug-manufacturing standards, there is little to stop them from exporting unapproved, adulterated or counterfeit ingredients. The substandard formulations made from those ingredients often end up in pharmacies in developing countries and for sale on the Internet, where more Americans are turning for cheap medicine. [Full text]
The story page includes a video segment.
[Image: At least 82 Chinese companies at a Milan trade show, none of them certified, said they made pharmaceutical ingredients, via NYTimes.com]
