Betsy McCaughey: China Controls Your Meds — And That Should Scare You

Democrats and Republicans voiced their concerns about TikTok’s national-security threat during a House hearing on Thursday.

The Chinese-owned app collects large amounts of data on American users, posing a significant risk.

Moreover, China’s control over the US medication supply chain is an even bigger issue, yet it is receiving less attention.

The Chinese government controls many, and in some cases all, active ingredients found in drugs used in hospitals and in our medicine cabinets, including 97% of US antibiotics.

This control over medications means that in a crisis, Beijing could easily decide to cut off shipments of essential drugs, putting Americans at risk.

China dominates the market for drug ingredients, producing 40% globally in 2017, compared to 90% by the West and Japan until the mid-1990s.

The US government is doing little to combat this issue, according to a committee report. Even Congress’s request for the FDA to list life-saving drugs and their countries of origin has gone unheeded.

Meanwhile, the Department of Defense still has not taken the necessary steps to reduce reliance on foreign drug suppliers, making national security vulnerable to drug shortages.

Under President Joe Biden’s administration, securing medications for the military is deemed less important than woke goals.

It is high time that the US brings drug manufacturing back home and reduces reliance on foreign suppliers, especially China. Restoring Section 936 of the Internal Revenue Code to attract industry to Puerto Rico, as formerly enacted, is one way to do so.

For America’s health and national security, Congress must take action and work towards a solution to this issue.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths.