A hearty F.U. to the New York Times

[Ellen Forradalom]

for this tabloid-worthy headline:

Tainted Drugs Tied to Maker of Abortion Pill
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/world/asia/31pharma.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

Subtext:
EEK SCARY BOOGA-BOOGA ABORTION DANGERS EVERYWHERE

The tainted drugs in question are for the treatment of leukemia. While made by the same supplier of mifepristone, the latter is made in a different facility.

We should very concerned about the safety of mifepristone, of cancer drugs, of all drugs. But that headline is disgusting, given the current climate of women's reproductive rights.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. How clever.

I wonder if that headline has hit the anti-choice websites yet.

[Ellen Forradalom]

2. Oh, I'm sure they lost NO time

And that meme is going to be around for a long long time.

Thanks a lot, Grey Lady.

[lizerdbits]

4. 'We must ban it now!

We care about women and their health so much we want it banned.' That reminds me of the anti choice crap about having abortions allegedly increasing breast cancer risk. 'It's only a coincidence that we want abortion to be illegal anyway, we really care about YOU.' :eyes:

[ismnotwasm]

3. Made in China?

Who knew?

A quick search and I found this article, it's from last year.
http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/news/ng.asp?id=81295-sfda-fda-china-manufacturing-gmp


"China gets serious on drug GMP; safety pact with FDA imminent"

Snip---
Not least the FDA, which has been copping much criticism of late for its failure to inspect even a fraction of the foreign drug manufacturing facilities that export to the US.

This is a worrying scenario, considering that 75-80 per cent of all active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used by US drug manufacturers are now imported, mainly from India and China, along with 40 per cent of finished dosage forms from various global locations.

According to a recently-released Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit report, China, which has the largest number of drug manufacturers eligible for FDA inspection (714) is earmarked for only 13 regulatory visits by the FDA this year, meaning only less than 2 per cent of the country's drug exporters will have their facilities examined.

As mentioned earlier, it is China of all places that should be subject to particular regulatory scrutiny due to its abominable track record on unsafe and counterfeit drug products, along with a smattering of corruption amongst some of the country's high-ranking regulatory officials."


Um, did that say 76-80%? But of course NYT is going to focus on RU-486.

[BlueIris]

5. Hey, thanks for that.