I bet most Americans born in the 80s knows all about the DARE programs, designed to "keep kids off of drugs." Isn't the handy slogan now something like "protecting kids from drugs and violence" or whatnot? So where does the V for Violence fit in the acronym? Can we put something about sitting too close to the tv in there too?
Well, I'm advocating drug resistance as well. Drugs are harmful not only to us, but to our society. Check this out.
AP: Senate blocks bid to allow drug imports
By Andrew Bridges
"In a triumph for the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate on Monday killed a drive to allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from abroad at a significant savings over domestic prices. On a 49-40 vote, the Senate required the administration to certify the safety and effectiveness of imported drugs before they can be imported, a requirement that officials have said they cannot meet."
Wha- how- huh? Are you telling me that in this bastion of freedom, this beacon of light to the world, the great champion of capitalist bourgeois glory in the face of red communism, we are -- dare I say it -- allowing the monopoly of the drug industry by continuing the prohibition of foreign pharmaceuticals? Have we no pride? For what have our forefathers sacrificed, if not for freedom -- free speech, free practice of religion, free enterprise? Are we going to be continually subjected to mere colony-ship by the great motherland of pharmacopeia, with its vast armies of lobbyists and checkbooks? Are the bullets of pocket-lineage going to destroy capitalism? Where are the glory days of TR and trust-busting?
So maybe trust-busting isn't quite on target, but I doubt anybody who hasn't been bought out by the industry would disagree with the pathos behind the idea. But what a downer (nothing drug-related!) to run into that sidenote; I was just beginning to get into rhythm with my patriotic soapbox. It's easy to see how Republicans and Democrats can fall into this rut of bombast and rhetoric; it's wicked fun! Beats actually accomplishing anything!
But accomplish I must. The Senate required the measure based on safety reasons, the heart of which I cannot condemn, especially after reading an article this morning (see my other blog from today) on counterfeiting medical ingredients with poison.
But let me explain something that's bugging me. Because I have faith in logic, except when it doesn't serve me, and something just doesn't add up here.
In light of China's counterfeiting (replacing glycerin with poisonous diethylene glycol) the FDA "warned drug makers and suppliers in the United States 'to be especially vigilant' in watching for diethylene glycol" (NYT: "From China to Panama"). And when, in 1995, a US company purchased counterfeit "glycerin," the FDA had no idea about the transaction (fortunately the company caught it). So not all the imported materials going into medicines are tested by the FDA, as this demonstrates.
Yet this new legislation requires that the safety of any imported drugs be verified before importation. Lofty and admirable goal, indeed, but why the double standard? Am I missing something? Can we not apply this safety measure to imports of medical ingredients as well?
Surprise! another sidenote -- I really want to see Ned Flanders work for a drug company on the Simpsons: "triglucose-iddilly-diddilly benzoantilly-fantilly-puddely-siddily-doo! Let us pray, neighbor! diddilly"
My original conclusion, before being interrupted by my usual tangent on anything mockable, is that drugs are harmful to our society. Forget the fact that we're pumping unpronounceable chemicals into our body. Forget the fact that our little purple pills are unorganic. Forget the fact that our elders are deciding between a meal and an ever-increasingly-costly pill! Forget the fact the fact that our healthcare and insurance costs are skyrocketing. That's all fluff -- the crux of the issue is its effect on the well-being of American society, the preservation of American culture. Now tell me, truthfully, when's the last time you watched TV without seeing one of those ridiculous commercials? We're Americans, and if we have to interrupt our brains' degeneration with a commercial break, it had better be KFC and flavorless domestic beer! I rest my case.
I would like to encourage anybody who may read this to please pass this to as many friends and family and loved ones as possible. It's important to get out the message. My greatest hope is that this will become such a threat to the pharmaceutical puppet-masters that they'll pay me a large sum of money and bribe me out, too. And they can make Congress pass a law that will make the money untaxable.
08 May 2007
Can we please stop trading with China already?
It's not that I'm anti-China. When considering the facts that it perpetually abuses women, shows no tolerance for anything it cannot control, displays no concern for the environment, or human and animal rights, I don't think being anti-China is really being anti-China; it's merely disagreeing with a totalitarian regime that opposes everything good.
In fact, China, Korea and Japan, with their cultural and ethnic similarities, derived from the same ancestorship. That means that half of me is, a few generations back, linked to China. And take into account that we're all world citizens, that means that I'm fully related to people in China, maybe a few more generations back. Unfortunately, I'm also related to Hitler, Stalin and Fred Phelps, but I believe the world family has disowned them. They're the "under the bridge" kids. Not to be confused with the new pedophile houses in Florida...I think?
But seriously, Chinese women are the same as Korean, German, and American women. They're just not as fortunate as we; they were born into angst and hardship, while we, relatively, were born in sunshine meadows.
What annoys me is the Chinese state. Just as the Japanese state, but not the people, annoy me, the Chinese state drives me freaking bonkers. I read this article this morning in the Times and was actually late to work because I couldn't put it down. It is seven pages, and I had to keep double checking to make sure I really was reading what I read.
NYT: From China to Panama, a trail of poisoned medicine
By Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker
Basic synopsis: Chinese counterfeiters are substituting diethylene glycol for glycerin. You don't have to get past Chem 111 to know that diethylene glycol, "an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in some antifreeze," is poisonous. So these guys, in order to save a couple of bucks, exchange di-gly in place of glycerin, which is the sweet syrupy stuff that goes into cough medicine but still doesn't remove the nasty beerface taste.
Of the eight mass poisonings over the past 20 years, Panama is the latest victim. 365 are reported dead from this trickery, with 100 confirmed. Survival rate of the poisoning is 50%. This may be good odds for the last question on a test, but not in a life-death situation. I prefer something closer to 99.9%. Or 100 is even better.
So counterfeiters are bad, and should be drawn and quartered when they intentionally cause sickness or death. But what's equally as dispicable is the State's response.
When the poisoning hit in China, authorities arrested the counterfeiter and his sentence, possibly death, is being decided. Compare this to the State's reaction regarding the Panama tragedy. Our FDA tested the substance and found no glycerin, just di-gly and two other substances (the manufactureres advertised it as 95% glycerin). Instead of swooping in for the kill, the Chinese DEA equivalent said it had no jurisdiction, as the company -- State-owned, by the way!! -- is not certified to manufacture medicine; it had referred the case to the General Administration of Quality Supervision. Apparently this was news to the GAQS; it had never heard of the investigation. hmmm...
Aside from my little asides, that's the article in a nutshell. So my question is, in light of our recent wheat gluten incident, coupled with the State's inability to set any rigorous safety standards for its food and medical exports, and its refusal to prosecute counterfeiting murderers, can we please stop trading with China already? At least until we can guarantee our consumers' safety. Money talks. And we need to speak the language.
In fact, China, Korea and Japan, with their cultural and ethnic similarities, derived from the same ancestorship. That means that half of me is, a few generations back, linked to China. And take into account that we're all world citizens, that means that I'm fully related to people in China, maybe a few more generations back. Unfortunately, I'm also related to Hitler, Stalin and Fred Phelps, but I believe the world family has disowned them. They're the "under the bridge" kids. Not to be confused with the new pedophile houses in Florida...I think?
But seriously, Chinese women are the same as Korean, German, and American women. They're just not as fortunate as we; they were born into angst and hardship, while we, relatively, were born in sunshine meadows.
What annoys me is the Chinese state. Just as the Japanese state, but not the people, annoy me, the Chinese state drives me freaking bonkers. I read this article this morning in the Times and was actually late to work because I couldn't put it down. It is seven pages, and I had to keep double checking to make sure I really was reading what I read.
NYT: From China to Panama, a trail of poisoned medicine
By Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker
Basic synopsis: Chinese counterfeiters are substituting diethylene glycol for glycerin. You don't have to get past Chem 111 to know that diethylene glycol, "an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in some antifreeze," is poisonous. So these guys, in order to save a couple of bucks, exchange di-gly in place of glycerin, which is the sweet syrupy stuff that goes into cough medicine but still doesn't remove the nasty beerface taste.
Of the eight mass poisonings over the past 20 years, Panama is the latest victim. 365 are reported dead from this trickery, with 100 confirmed. Survival rate of the poisoning is 50%. This may be good odds for the last question on a test, but not in a life-death situation. I prefer something closer to 99.9%. Or 100 is even better.
So counterfeiters are bad, and should be drawn and quartered when they intentionally cause sickness or death. But what's equally as dispicable is the State's response.
When the poisoning hit in China, authorities arrested the counterfeiter and his sentence, possibly death, is being decided. Compare this to the State's reaction regarding the Panama tragedy. Our FDA tested the substance and found no glycerin, just di-gly and two other substances (the manufactureres advertised it as 95% glycerin). Instead of swooping in for the kill, the Chinese DEA equivalent said it had no jurisdiction, as the company -- State-owned, by the way!! -- is not certified to manufacture medicine; it had referred the case to the General Administration of Quality Supervision. Apparently this was news to the GAQS; it had never heard of the investigation. hmmm...
Aside from my little asides, that's the article in a nutshell. So my question is, in light of our recent wheat gluten incident, coupled with the State's inability to set any rigorous safety standards for its food and medical exports, and its refusal to prosecute counterfeiting murderers, can we please stop trading with China already? At least until we can guarantee our consumers' safety. Money talks. And we need to speak the language.
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