PRESS RELEASE: U.S. Senate Frontrunner Rik Mehta Launches ‘Made in America’ Medicines Campaign

Republican US Senate candidate Rik Mehta announced, via press release, he’s launching his “‘Made in America’ medicines campaign.” The campaign’s press release follows:

Dr. Rik Mehta, the frontrunner to take on Cory Booker in 2020, lays out plan to bring drug manufacturing back to America; calls for drug labels to include their country of origin.

"Today, I am launching my 'Made in America' medicines campaign that will require companies to disclose the country of origin of their prescription drugs. Americans have a right to know where their medicine comes from especially when nearly all other products are labeled with the country it was made in," Mehta said. "I can look at products on my body, like my shirt and shoes and know exactly where it was made, but the same doesn't hold true for things that go in our body, like our prescription drugs. That makes no sense. "Americans have a right to know whether their medicine was 'Made in America' or 'Made in China' and should be labeled as such."

Contamination problems stemming from China continue to plague the American medical supply chain resulting in unnecessary deaths. In the midst of the pandemic, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also struggling with multiple drug recalls due to their contamination with a cancer-causing chemical called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA); a single dose of less than one milligram could mutate cells and cause cancer. In previous years, the FDA has dealt with tainted infant formula poisoning American babies, contaminated blood-thinners causing multiple deaths and other counterfeit drug issues all linked to Chinese drug manufacturing. 

Currently, the FDA does not require a drug's label to include the country where the ingredients originated from to make the drug. "Take a look in your own medicine cabinet and you won't find a 'Made in' label on your bottle. I know because I'm a pharmacist and I can't find this information easily," said Mehta. "A bottle of ibuprofen might say 'Madison, NJ' on it, yet there is no manufacturing plant located there. So where was it made?"

Mehta pointed out that, currently, if the majority of the ingredients that go into making a drug come from China, but a secondary step was taken to mix or package the drug in another country, then the country where it was mixed or packaged (or in some cases the principal place of business), could be placed on the label even though China was the source of the ingredients. 

"These bizarre and conflicting laws and regulations that govern how to label products with their country of origin has allowed companies to profit from foreign drug manufacturing while hiding their supply chain from the American people for too long," said Mehta. 

"American doctors and pharmacists should be able to inform patients on not only what ingredients are in their drugs, but where those ingredients were made," said Mehta.

Mehta noted that Chinese manufacturing of American drugs have nearly doubled while many American-based manufacturing plants shuttered, moving the manufacturing of essential medicines, like antibiotics, to foreign countries. "It's offensive to me that politicians like Cory Booker continue to defend China and its Communist propaganda by placing the wants and needs of China above the safety and needs of the American people. Under my 'Made in America' medicines plan, we will bring thousands of manufacturing jobs back to America, provide transparency in the medical supply chain, reduce the price of our prescription drugs and more importantly save lives," concluded Mehta.