Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown struck a blow for victims of dirty Chinese Heparin yesterday in a speech in our nation's capital. Speaking before the Washington International Trade Association and the George Washington University Elliot School for International Relations, Senator Brown decried the importation of cheap drugs:

Our enormous trade deficit has resulted in our nation not only importing goods and services, but also importing the dangerous safety standards of our trading partners.
In Toledo, Ohio, patients died after taking contaminated Heparin to treat their heart conditions. The manufacturer of Heparin had outsourced the making of the drug, and as a result, did not know where the contamination occurred.
The patients in Toledo, or the factory workers in Reynosa, or the meatpackers in Nebraska illustrate that continuing our trade direction is not a ringing endorsement of our trade agenda. Their stories represent a continuation of a policy of broken promises. [Link to full text of speech]

I discussed the Heparin Disaster with Senator Brown last year in Toledo. He clearly heard the concerns of the victims of big pharma. Senator Brown understands that the big corporations like Baxter Healthcare put profits over people.

We have now received about one million pages of documents from Baxter. These documents show that Baxter went to China for its heparin because it could save a few dollars on its raw material costs. Baxter knew the Chinese facility had never been inspected by the FDA. It knew that there were no inspections being performed on the heparin workshops and consolidators.

Baxter showed reckless indifference even after the contamination was brought to light. We are now learning that Baxter was being criticized by the FDA in September of 2008 for an inadequate recall.

The more we learn, the worse the story. We will continue to uncover the unsavory details and fight in the courtroom for the victims. We ask you to all support Senator Brown as he fights for us in the halls of Congress.

Labels: Baxter, FDA, Heparin, Heparin Class Action, heparin lawsuit, Sherrod Brown