From the marvelous folks who gave us:
* lead paint on our children's toys;
* lead paint on furniture and household decorations imported from China;
* animal food ingredients (gluten) that sickened and killed our pets; and
* who knows what else

In an article that appeared on page 15 of the December 9th Sunday Star Ledger (NJ), it was explained that China is also responsible for significant production of the U.S.'s generic drugs. It seems that some bright light determined it was okay to give China (those pillars of quality control) a pass on unannounced inspections of their pharmaceutical plants ... for this the U.S. firms get a 25% discount. Because of this discount, pharmaceutical companies in Germany and other European countries can't compete and have stopped producing basic drug ingredients (Germany et al are still subject to unannounced inspections). We now have few providers for generics other than China and India.

I assume this article is accurate and, if it is, it's scary stuff. Many health insurance plans only pay for generics when they are available. The "Made in China" stamp isn't on the drugs ... how do we know what we're getting?

I've never heard this discussed ... am I missing something?

Yet Americans are stopped from ordering medications from out of the country.

I have an elderly neighbor who was prescribed a medication not covered by Medicare. It was very expensive through her local pharmacy, so she went on the internet to see how much it was there. The cost was less than 50%, so she ordered the medication, paying in advance.

Time marcheth on and she gets a letter from Homeland Security telling her that her medication had been seized because it was from out of the country.

I saw the letter, otherwise I would have questioned the claim. It seems so freaking bizarre to have Homeland Security monitoring medication being sent to Americans.

As near as we can figure, it must have been snatched at a FedEx routing facility.

Don't know what Homeland "Security" is protecting us from ... people are dying because they can't afford their prescribed meds ... it's beyond frustrating.