Tainted MTX in China | Arthritis Information

This was in the news this morning. I'm really hoping China doesn't export
mtx, because this FREAKS me out. How do we know or find out where our
mtx is made?

http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKPEK1476920070707

I've printed out the article to take to Wal Mart Pharm. I want to know if they use this manufacturer. They probably use the cheapest supplier who in turn may order from the Chinese manufacturer. Who knows, but I'm going to try and find out. Will keep you posted. LindyThanks Lindy! Good grief Gimp - thanks for posting and I am printing it out too. This is as bad as some of the posters in here saying they are professional health care providers. Cathy, I'm just curious about your statement about professional health care providers, what prompted you to write that? LindySuspicionAbout what Cathy? Do you think US drug companies are putting stories out about drugs from China? I didn't even know we imported any of our drugs from other countries. I have read that the reason that US citizens should not buy drugs via the internet or go to Canada or Mexico (people did that a lot when I was in San Diego) is that there was concern about the quality. Mary - I don't know what to think anymore about all this news out of China suddenly. It's seems pretty suspicious, but I read a stat about three years ago that almost 100% of catfish sold to restaurants are raised in the Mekong River. This buying of drugs over the Internet is bizarre in my opinion, but if our own companies are recycling contaminated drugs from China? Too much for me to comprehend.

Thanks for the heads up Gimpy. For me, it is printed on the vial of mtx who the manufacturer was of the MTX. The stuff I have now came from Paramus NJ.

What do you mean by recycle contaminated drugs? As in repackage the product to say that is made here in the States?

Interesting.....seems like alot of tained stuff from China lately....

I recently read an article in a magazine about tainted products and sub standard products coming from overseas. The article stated that part of the reason we get such sub standard products is that with their new found economic structure and the potential for CEO's etc. to earn even more money, they are taking even more shortcuts with manufacturing products and pushing their workers to their limits.

This has all started getting recognition back when the tainted dog food came in. However, the magazine I read has been covering this for a very long time (it is a steelworkers union magazine) since this affects many of the jobs and products here in the States. Unfortunately, this is one of the bad effects of Free Trade.

I'm not sure how it works for medications, but under the free trade agreements there's not really any way to easily find out where stuff is produced anymore. Something might be manufactured in China and still say "Made in the USA" because of all the loopholes built in to the agreements. I can't remember the exact details, but it's something like if an American company owns the factory in China it can say "Made in the USA". There's areas in 3rd world countries that are considered to be "America" for manufacturing purposes. I wish I had better recall of the details for you,. I suppose I could look it up when I get some time. Does anyone remember this?? Years and years ago, after WW2 and before China was exporting big time, a lot of stuff was coming out of Japan marked "Made in USA". This stuff was everywhere, Japan was rebuilding their economy, and obviously people thought it was coming from U.S.A. and as such, trusted the source. At the time, Japanese goods were NOT popular on the world market. I THINK, I'm about in the 1960's or 70's at this stage, but correct me please, if I'm wrong.

Then it became widely known (possibly an urban legend) that there was a place in Japan named Usa. By eliminating the use of full-stops, and marked as made in USA, the public thought they were buying goods which had been made in America. The place certainly exists though, and the goods were definitely marketed as being made in USA. It was however, apparently all legal, and to do with the difference between USA and U.S.A. (The full-stops). Most of the cheaper imported toys and goods that were available in N.Z at the time came from this source. And we all thought we were buying this wonderful American stuff!!

After all the publicity world wide, the packaging then began to show Made in USA Japan.

Then in later years China, Thailand etc, came on to the scene with their cheap exports - many times there have been recalls of articles of food items, and toys etc (most of which had a contaminated water component), and that's pretty scarey.

Please understand I'm not bashing the Chinese, - just anything containing their water, chemicals, or any possible contamination.

No doubt though, China is not the only exporting country that has contamination problems. That's scarey as well.

So to prevent lethally compromising public health worldwide, surely it is essential that medications are supplied from reliable and trusted sources. What is reliable and trusted though, I dunno!! Your guess is as good as mine. But I would sure stay away from the internet for buying any type of medications.

OK OK - I've bleated on enough here, it probably doesn't make sense,
but I know what I mean, anyway!! Totally off topic, but my grandfather was in the Merchant Marines and brought my grandmother home a set of china from Japan right after WWII and it is stamped on the back "made in occupied Japan". I have the set now. oh yikes, I never even thought of my meds possibly coming from china.
eeks. gonna check into that. A nurse at work the other day was reading the
back of one of those bags of fruit/nut mixes that comes from costco. most
of the ingredients in this particular bag came from china. I didn't realize it
and now am being more careful to look at labels.Maybe its about time we stop buying goods from China?? Thanks for the info gogo. With all the out sourcing going on these days, it makes it hard for us to really know where anything originates. Scary stuff.Very true brisen.

Everybody -

Just my opinion but we need to really look into the "from China" angle the media is putting out. Just about every American uses toothpaste. Scare # 1. Then there's the fish angle from a couple of weeks ago - which NEVER even mentioned the fact that our own American fish farms are polluted and that while they test something like every 5 lbs of beef it's every 15 lbs of fish. Scare #2. Now the MTX - all those poor sick people without meds. Scare # 3.

I'm not saying this isn't happening and that it isn't serious.

I am saying we're getting down to the wire in the primaries - and we have a major national election next year where the biggest issue is not the war and the lives lost and our botched foreign policy - but our biggest domestic issues are jobs (outsourcing), our National Health Plan (never gonna happen) and immigration.

China.

Hmmmmm.

Pip

I totally agree this is very scary!! How better to hurt someone than with food or medicine. But how can we really know? Especially if it's only one ingredient like is in toothpaste or dog food? Or one toxic chemical in our medicine. I'm about to call ole' KOKO back up and start using all natural, homegrown herbs and food

We should not get anything from China--they tainted the pet food, the toothpaste and now the drugs. I am sorry to say this--don't flame me--but it is probably especially made for America.

I get my Minocin from Canada because I haven't unpacked the stack of paperwork I need to process to get my Brand Mino approved by my insurance carrier. Seems they noticed I was on long term ABX and forced me to switch even tho I have a history of Gerd and my doctor wrote a letter saying 'legal/medico issues' and give her the Brand.

This is another pet peeve of mine. How much do the Biologics cost a month? Yet I'm denied a Brand off patent drug that costs the 6 a month and is getting me off pain pills and a host of other ancilliary drugs I started before AP kicked in. If AP ever fails me - what will it cost them then???

Pip

Pip I know how you feel with being denied a Brand off patent drug. Been there done that.

As far as how much Biologics cost...it is different per biologic. This is what I found on the walgreens website. Enbrel 25mg vial without insurance is 5. The 50mg/ml prefilled syringes are 29.99. Humira for 2 syringes is 44. MOST (not all) insurance companies do cover these meds. My humira is covered at a tier 3 (highest co-pay) of .

Part of the reason we should not buy from China is not only the tainted products that we are getting...we should buy products made in America by American workers so that American workers can have jobs. No matter what country you live in...you should buy products made in that country. Trade can be a good thing as long as it is regulated and is not hurting your home country.

This is very scary business indeed.

I don't believe that China is deliberatly trying to poison us--it's just all about money. And our American businessmen are fully cooperating in this race to the bottom, to produce the cheapest goods possible with the highest profits. Jobs first went to Mexico, but China works even cheaper so now the jobs are going there.

Unfortunately, you can't even believe the "Made in USA" label anymore. Sometimes these goods are made in places like the Mariannas Islands, which has some sort of relationship with the USA which allows them to legally use the Made in USA label. I've read that they use young women who are "recruited" from other countries--they are kept in dorms and are paid practically nothing--it's virtually slave labor. I understand that Tom Delay, the ex-congressman from here in Texas, was involved in this scandel, as well as Jack Abramhoff. I guess it's still going on.

I also heard a very scary story on public radio about the seafood farms in Indonesia. The seafood is kept in overcrowded dirty conditions that we con't allow in this country. That's why shrimp has been so cheap in the last few years. I'm been trying to only eat shrimp that comes from our Texas Gulf Coast, but that's hard to always do. I have a bumper sticker that says "Friends Don't Let Friends Eat Imported Shrimp!" Not only does it kill our jobs, but it might kill us!

Only a fraction of the goods coming into this country are inspected. It would not surprise me if medicines turn out to be contaminated as well.

Some folks are getting very wealthy at the expense of the rest of us......

Gramma, I agree that we need to 'buy American' (assuming we can figure just what that means nowadays). I think 'China' is a red herring. It could have been anywhere - but China is the new 'fear factor' in our economy.

Sula - you hit the nail on the head - I read a truly frightening article about a year or two back in the LA Times. These journalists 'followed the money' since NAFTA. First it was Mexico, then other places in S. America, then parts of Indoneasia, now the jobs are heading to China. I mean, they followed garment jobs, tech jobs, etc. It was a hell of a series of articles showing how people would get jobs and the ramifications of when they'd lose them. Sad in America. Sadder with some of the workers highlighted in the article - slave labor women and sweat shop kids. Whole cities abandoned while machinery rusted.

What I am trying to say is it's not "China" or ___________ (insert 3rd world country here). It's we are heading into an election and we can pretty much guess what the issues are going to be. Not the war. It's going to be this because it's hitting multiple issues at the same time. Immigration and Health Care Reform.

As for the MTX - a friend told me there is a dud in the ABX on the market and her doc told her that. Doc's know these things. How come nobody is reporting that?

Because it didn't come from China.

Look - I'm about as liberal as can be - I smell a 'manufactured' issue unfolding among us. I'll bet anybody on this board that Big Pharma gets a bunch of help from politicians in the next session/election year keeping unsafe meds from hurting poor, unsuspecting people. And keeping Canadian cheaper meds out of America.

I forgot who posted that. It's the same med. I can get Brand in the states for 6 a month - or I pay 4 for 3 months there.

Get it?

Pip

Wow, Pip!

You're one step ahead of me here. I'm going to have to think on this one for awhile.

I agree with you about "manufactured issues". Get everyone all worked up while business continues as usual. It worked with the immigration issue. The focus was on the immigrant, not why he is coming to this country in the first place.

I heard somewhere that this is called a "straw man" tactic.

The last election it was 'family values' and 'gay marriage'.

They can't play that card again.

This is the 'new deal'.

Pip

I refuse to eat seafood in Florida that is said to be "fresh", I can smell the sewage. And everybody is raving about it. I dread going out to "seafood restaurants", I am about puking it stinks so bad. I am just spoiled because of the fresh seafood I used to get out my front yard. All I have to say is glad I don't eat seafood lol. The rest of my family does tho. So what you are saying is when I go to the grocery and buy hubby and daughter shrimp it is actually not from here? Ick. I need to do something about their shrimp habit lol. Gramma, all I know is that aways back my hubbie and I read something that like 99% of all catfish sold in restaurants or frozen is raised in the Mekong River. We were just surprised, thought catfish was raised in the rivers of America, but that burst that myth. I think it just gets bigger from there. I mean, we have turned all our farms into condos, so where is our food coming from? The only thing we seem to really produce is Napa Valley wines. China just sentenced to death their former head of their version of the FDA for bribery. WHy are bad products coming out of China...a rapidly growing economy with little or no oversight and no legal system in place to protect the consumers. Add the greed of cheap products in the international community and you have a recipe for what is happening right now

I wonder if that would work for the FDA? Instead of having them go on to be paid politico's as in that one link I posted.

Pip

Pip!v wrote "Yet I'm denied a Brand off patent drug that costs the 6 a
month and is getting me off pain pills and a host of other ancilliary drugs I
started before AP kicked in"

That seems outrageous to me....I just paid a little under 0 CDN for a 6
month supply of brand name Minocin. (of which my insurance will reimburse
0, so my 6 month supply will be ). So 6 USD seems insanely
expensive to me! However, I don't know how much you take, Pip! I only take
450mg a week.

I'm pulsing - 200 mgs MWF.

I'm telling you - why did the price of Mino go up 300% in the first half of 2006 alone. Could it be all the studies for MS, ALS, etc?

I'm telling you all - Big Pharma knows!

Pip the not really conspiracy theorist - but gettin' there!

Speaking of tainted products...one of my favorite snack items is being recalled! For years I've bought both Pirate Booty and Veggie Booty at Trader Joe's. According to the article, it appears there is a possible salmonella problem with the Veggie Booty. No mention of Pirate Booty though.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19489593/