Senate Minority Leader Calls on CBP to More Aggressively Inspect Chinese Over-the-Counter Drugs
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., held a press event Nov. 17 to draw attention to the problem of substandard over-the-counter drugs and topical medicines imported from China and sold at dollar stores. Schumer pointed to a Food and Drug Administration compliance letter sent to the parent company of Dollar Tree earlier in the month, which asked the corporation to identify how it would change its supply chain so that it was no longer buying from firms that are on import alerts, such as the acne treatment pads it received from Shanghai Weieyra Daily Chemicals Factory and drugs from Hangzhou Zhongbo Industrial Company.
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Schumer has sent a letter to the CBP asking it to explain whether it has done any specialized training to improve the identification of questionable over-the-counter drugs, and asking how it coordinates with the FDA to prevent drugs from entering the U.S. that should not enter. He asked, “What more, if anything, might CBP or the FDA require from the legislative branch to address the problem of unsafe OTC drugs arriving to the U.S so we can curtail these shipments, especially from China?"