We must stop importing medication from China

If there’s a silver lining to the novel coronavirus, it’s that our dependence on China for medication and medical devices has been brought to the fore (at least to those paying attention).

Our dependence on China for these vital supplies is insane for all the obvious reasons, none-the-least of which is how quickly we could be brought to our knees. We must act now to break this dependence and start manufacturing medication here at home.

India, which manufactures most of the world’s generic drugs, is already taking steps to reduce their reliance on ingredients from China (here). This point is worthy of a brief explanation. Although a medication may be made in a certain country, the active and inactive ingredients for that medication almost always come from China. So, while China may not manufacture the final product, they hold the keys to production.

Not good.

But there’s movement afoot in Congress to change that. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) is leading the charge with legislation to break this dangerous cycle. He is calling on Congress to pass an emergency spending bill connected to the coronavirus that will secure our supply chain of medication. Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Mike Pocan (D-WI) have introduced similar legislation in the House. (here)

Rosemary Gibson, author of China Rx, believes we could begin manufacturing medication in the United States in less than a year and that start-ups are poised to do so. Yet nothing is happening.

Gibson has been sounding the alarm which often falls on deaf ears. She notes that funding for coronavirus must also address our dependence on China for medication. Breitbart reports:

FROM BREITBART:

https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2020/03/03/rosemary-gibson-congress-ignoring-u-s-dependence-chinese-drugs/

Gibson characterized U.S. dependence on Chinese exports of medicines as a national security threat. [snip]

Gibson added, “We need help because our manufacturing base has just been decimated. It’s collapsed, for the most part, especially making these core ingredients. So that upfront investment, the federal government would recoup a significant return on its investment if it jump-started advanced manufacturing of essential generic drugs here, and by the way, it’s going to be a lifesaver for many people because we need those medicines. Our military needs them. Our veterans need them, and certainly, our strategic national stockpile [needs them], [as] 85 percent of the medicines in there, they depend to some degree on China.”

“Six billion dollars of our money in the United States is going to China to pay for generic drugs to grow their industry as ours is collapsing here at home,” estimated Gibson. “Taxpayers would be shocked. That’s why we have to bring it back home and you use this as a way to jump-start production here in the United States, and good companies want to get going on it.”

Trump needs to get moving on this stuff. I’ll be honest, that 1:30 press conference yesterday? frightening. Those people didn’t have a clue, including our President, on what to do. They looked confused and bewildered. I’ve never seen President Trump appear to be in over his head until that press conference.

* He should have announced that flights were being stopped flights from several countries.

* Incentives and “fast track” plans were being made for companies to make the medicines/medical supplies we need here in the US.

Here is an example of over-reliance on China. I ordered some cute reusable shopping bags for the upcoming holiday of Purim (March 9) on Amazon, on February 21. A week went by, and THEN I got an email from the seller (in China) that he was out of the bags. With the holiday approaching, I ordered the same bags from another vendor, also from China. Amazon posted that the bags would be delivered between March 4 and March 9. I was very skeptical of this. Finally, the seller gave me a tracking number through China Post. Numerous checks of this tracking number have told me that "the package has not entered the system yet" and half a dozen other "never heard of this number" responses. Yeah, that package is gonna arrive between March 4 and 9, sure it is. Fortunately, I am adept at crafts. I created a logo in line with my Purim theme this year and will print that on t-shirt iron-on transfer sheets and iron those onto some nice canvas totes I acquired locally for a very decent price. Fie on you, China!!

Can you just imagine if this were life saving drugs being shipped from China? That is a fragile reed indeed, if this were the only source of those pharmaceuticals. Scary!

(from the article):" Our dependence on China for these vital supplies is insane for all the obvious reasons,
none-the-least of which is how quickly we could be brought to our knees.
We must act now to break this dependence and start manufacturing medication here at home."

I consider the coronavirus virus as the provacative motivator for the national "Great Awakening"
Why call it that ? I call it the "Great Awakening" because we have been lulled into drowsy by low cost manufacturing, involuntary corporate proprietary secrets
which are then shared with the communist government who owns and runs each business, as well as dependency on Chinese electronics
in even our most sophisticated military weaponry.
Our dependency on Chinese medication is only one area which draws our immediate concern, since we have forgotten the fact that China has a '30 year plan'
to supplant and surpass the United States as the dominant world 'Super Power'.
China has intimidated, coerced, seduced, and bullied, in order to dominate the various world's governments, even ignoring the 'Laws of the Sea'.
This bombastic behavior is highly reminiscent of Japan's actions prior to WWII; we were lulled to sleep then too.

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