It seems every day we read about some of the challenges with the products made in China coming into the United States. Now we all know a couple of years ago we had some challenges with drywall which had improper chemicals in it, and toys which were painted with lead paint. We also know about the protein compounds which were fed to fish, and poultry, which was not FDA approved, ending up in the human food chain and on tables across America – quite problematic to say the least.

Of course, that’s just a start, in fact the Chinese have had unfortunately tainted baby food and milk, and we all remember when they sent us pet food which was poisonous for our animals. That’s enough to really get your blood boiling if you are a pet owner. China vowed to do something about this and other issues, and for the most part have, but with little or no regulatory control, at least not at the level we have in the United States, we simply have to take their word for it. Well, I’m not willing to do that.

Recently, there was an interesting article titled; “FDA inspectors could be moving to China” by Margot Sanger-Katz of the National Journal was very good and it was posted online at Government Executive on February 14, 2012. The article did indeed state;

“If it gets the funding it wants, the FDA will get 10 million to expand its inspection operations in China. Nearly all of the increases to the agency’s $4.5 billion budget come from user fees paid by drug and device makers who want their products approved. But the president has also requested $10 million in new approriations so that FDA can move 19 full-time employees abroad, 16 would be inspectors and that total will include $4.4 million for food inspection and $5.6 million for inspection of drug plants.”

Well, that’s certainly not going to be enough considering the massive amount of products that we are buying from China, especially considering how many of those items involve food products, cosmetics, or pharmaceuticals. All of which need to be inspected by the FDA, and if they’d been produced here our regulatory bodies would have. Indeed, what I’m getting at is that $10 million to expand inspection operations in China considering the overall budget of the FDA at $4.5 billion and the massive trade flows (over a million cargo containers a year), is rather irrelevant, and completely sidesteps the problem.

Now then, obviously I’ve never been one to ask for the expansion of government regulations, I think they are choking off the lifeblood of this country. However, if we allow another country to get around the rules we are enforcing on American companies, then “Houston, we have a problem.” Indeed, I do believe we need more FDA Inspections in China, but I certainly don’t want to pay for it as a taxpayer.

Rather I believe that these costs should be passed on, and until China can put forth their own better regulations like what we have here, then we should put taxes on their goods coming into this country. Yes, even if those goods are produced by an American company within that country, or any country for that matter, why should it matter? Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.