Following a series of crises involving food and drug products imported from China, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is opening offices in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shangai this week.
Two recent articles about the safety of imports from China and the FDA’s lack of oversight provide some background:
- Time: Heparin’s deadly side effects – Reporter Bill Powell follows the manufacturing process of heparin in China, noting that “It is jarring to see where a drug like heparin begins.”
- The New York Times Magazine: The safety gap – Gardiner Harris says he has “rarely written about a subject that both branded and generic drug makers wanted to discuss less.”
