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FDA Identifies Contaminant in Heparin The FDA, has indicated that the FDA has identified the contaminant in the suspect Heparin injections, amid speculation that the such contamination could have been intentional. "The mysterious substance, which has a chemical makeup similar to heparin, comprises as much as 20 percent of the active ingredient in nine suspect lots produced by Baxter since September, the FDA said Wednesday. The suspect lots are connected to at least four deaths reported nationwide since Baxter noted a spike in adverse reactions to the drug in late December." Click here for the Chicago Tribune story.
The Tribune quoted the FDA spokesman as follows: "We don't know whether the introduction of the contaminant was accidental, as part of the biological process, or if it was deliberate," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting director of the FDA's center for drug evaluation and research. Areas of inquiry and controversy that are now swirling around this tragedy include suspicions of a Chinese pig epidemic being passed thru to the drug, concerns about the possibility of the contaminant being used because the active ingredient was in short supply and the possibility of other wrongdoing. As I have asked before on this blog: Why are we risking the safety of our medicines, given to our frailest of citizens, on products that come from Chinese pigs? Only greater profits, in an industry that is taxing the American economy as greatly as the oil industry, can justify not getting such product from Illinois or midwestern pork. We fight so hard to keep animal diseases out of this country, then import them into products for human medicines, because we have no effective control or accountability on the foreign suppliers of such products.
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