From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Rosemary Gibson – https://www.americaoutloud.com/chinas-stranglehold-on-pharmaceuticals/
“Without firing a missile or hacking the electric grid, China can take America down by disrupting access to essential drugs.”
Rosemary Gibson has done a great job alerting us to the genesis of China’s grip on our supply of medications. China is now the largest global supplier of the active ingredients and chemical building blocks need to make many vitamins, and prescription and over-the-counter drugs. These include antibiotics, steroids, and cancer drugs.
Until the mid-1990s U.S., Europe, and Japan manufactured 90 percent of the global supply of key ingredients for the world’s medications. Our weakness for bargains created a monster. China undercut the price of drugs and components; the artificially low price forces other companies out of the market; then the company is free to manipulate the price and supply at will. Now more than half of the 4,000 active ingredients needed to make medications depend on China.
In this episode we discuss how and why the United States became so dependent on China for medications, the risks of such dependence, and most importantly, the solutions. The Chinese think ahead with their well-known “five-year plans.” America must start planning for our future as well.
