Senate wants drug firms to label products’ origin

INDIAN-origin pharmacist and Republican Senate hopeful Rik Mehta has launched a plan to force drug companies to reveal their products’ country of origin, saying it is time to stop China’s control over medicine supply in the US.

Mehta, who is running against Democratic Party Senator from New Jersey Cory Booker, said that 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 as he recently launched the bring back made in America medicine campaign.

‘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,’ the biotech entrepreneur and healthcare policy expert was quoted as saying by the New Jersey Globe newspaper.

Under the current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, the last place a given drug was manufactured, is considered its place of origin, he said.

‘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,’ Mehta said.‘

Penicillin won World War II for us, but now it’s been 20 years since it’s been manufactured in the US. It’s time to bring back manufacturing back to America and stop China’s control of our medicine supply,’ he wrote on Twitter. 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, he said.

Mehta, a licensed pharmacist and attorney, has emerged as a top potential candidate for the US Senate in 2020 elections from New Jersey.

As a first-generation American, he is a staunch advocate for defending the country’s Constitutional rights, an affordable, accessible putting healthcare system built for generations to come, according to his website.