naveline: I keep telling you Americans. . . if you get a batch of bad pig intestines, or lead-tainted toys, it's not the governing or regulatory body's fault-- it's simply because you didn't appease the spirits of your ancestors! So just get your survivors to light some incense once in a while, or burn paper money, and maybe this time you'll get reincarnated on a lucky numbered day or date. And as a male, don't forget that part.

Senator McCain, you really should get back to work sometime soon.

Not to mention the tainted cola products.

China doesn't care about people dying. 62? China would kill a thousand if it meant they made an extra nickel. When you have a country that treat people as cattle you can't be suprised when they kill a few dozen people out of carelessness.

At the hospital I work in, they replaced all the heparin with latex-free vials. I figured there was some latex component to the allergic reaction. You would think, in order to get from pig intestines to sterile medication, there would have to be some fairly thorough processes to purify the drug, even in China.

Damn you Jack Cafferty! You've forced them to unleash the pig intestines!

Arkanaut: Since sausages are made using pig intestines, and blood thinners reduce the chance of a heart attack, does this mean that I should eat more sausages to save my heart?

intrigue, newsletter, subscribe, etc...

wydok: So, I wonder if Jews, Muslims, or vegetarians take Heparin. Or what other drug requires animal products.

The head of PETA uses bovine insulin.

Curiously, this seems to be par for the course. The heparin that made it to the US was FOR EXPORT ONLY, rather than for internal use in China.

The PRC has a pretty poor track record on quality control of medicinal products that are exported to other countries - a year ago, over a hundred people in Latin America died after consuming cough syrup that had been manufactured with "glycerine" from China that turned out to be Diethlylene Glycol.

Of course, since this did not affect Chinese nationals, this was considered a non-issue and the blamed on the Latin American manufacturer, never mind that the product had been labeled and certified by the PRC's regulatory agencies...

It's beyond avoiding buying products made in China as you have to know where the ingredients for your products come from as well.

alessandro: WFern: Did anyone catch Real Time with Bill Maher last week? They showed a photo of a Heparin manufacturing facility. I kid you not when I say it was repugnant beyond words. Horrendously unsanitary to the point where it appeared to be some form of industrial waste.

There was an article on WSJ.com about two months ago showing the process of extracting raw heparin.

After seeing that I think I'll just shoot up raw pig shiat the next time I get sick.