DeLauro Statement on Continued Heparin Investigation

Press Release

With the investigation into the contamination of the anticoagulant heparin continuing, Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) issued the following statement.

"Yet again we are witnessing contaminated products from China entering the country as a result of the Food and Drug Administration's inability to handle the sheer magnitude of imports. The FDA failed to perform their duties and thus failed to protect consumers from contaminated products.

"The contaminant found in Heparin was not identified until nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and capillary electrophoresis tests were used on the drug. This raises the question as to whether outdated testing methods are being utilized to test modern drugs. Just as applying car safety standards from the 1960s to automobiles in 2008 would present a danger to the American public so to does utilizing drug safety testing from older pharmaceutical to evaluate modern medications.

"Clearly our drug safety efforts have not kept up with globalization or 21st century medicine. Once again this highlights the implications of the FDA's broken management structure. Fixing our testing methods is but one example of the many areas that need to be addressed at the FDA."

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