The next time you take a vitamin C tablet, you may want to reconsider. According to recent industry reports, 90% of all vitamin C sold in the US is made in China. China also produces half of all aspirin, 70% of penicillin, 35% of acetaminophen (more commonly known as Tylenol), and most vitamins A, C, E, and B-12.

This is not to say that all products, or even all vitamins for that matter, made in China are inferior or unsafe, but in light of past toothpaste and food contamination scandals, and particularly considering the recent wheat gluten scare, in which thousands of beloved pets became ill or died from contaminated wheat gluten imported from China; intensive research on the matter may be worthwhile. While Texans and the rest of the US can take it for granted that their processing facilities are more or less properly inspected and that by the time the food product hits the open market in Austin, Dallas, Houston , anywhere else in Texas (or any other part of the country) is relatively safe, we can’t necessarily assume that about foreign facilities. No one finds this comforting, from health insurance companies to the average person trying to recover from the flu.

Consistent application and enforcement of safety regulations in Chinese manufacturing facilities is the primary concern. While some vitamin and food processing plants in China are “highly trained and do all the right things … (some) are just sloppy stores,” cautions Peter Kovacs, a food industry consultant based in Incline Village, Nevada.

Scandals do not improve the situation either. Chinese counterfeit malaria drugs exported to Southeast Asia are not unheard of, and neither is the distribution of counterfeit drugs to treat impotence. Similar incidents have been reported in the export of powerful Chinese herbs, such as Ma Huang. When used correctly, Ma Huang is an effective asthma treatment, but since it is a more or less natural ephedra, its dosage must be carefully regulated by professionals, it should not be used randomly as a weight loss aid, and placed on all shelves from supermarkets. Worse still, the former head of the China Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, was recently sentenced to death after being found guilty of accepting bribes amounting to nearly $ 1,000,000 in exchange for allowing the release of dangerous drugs.

Chinese inspectors often experience conflicts of interest, which could be a major contributing factor, as in the case of Weisheng Pharmaceutical Company. Weisheng is the world’s largest vitamin C producer and manufactures 30,000 tons per year. With such a large facility, any average American would expect a proper regime of inspections and reporting to occur. But the inspectors assigned to the plant are, in fact, workers employed by a city that is co-owner of Weisheng’s parent company. Indeed, having such an inspector return a negative report on Weisheng could be a problem.

And while American industrial workers report that the Weisheng facility appears to be clean and well-maintained to all appearances, the conflict of interest in enforcing any type of regulation is evident.

We could take a page from the Boston Tea Party, throw vitamins and drugs overboard, and simply refuse to buy more … except that Americans have no way of knowing where our products come from. Current labeling laws do not require companies to disclose the country from which they received their ingredients, much less from which company. While all of this may explain the surprisingly and suspiciously cheap prices of certain vitamins in recent years, it doesn’t do much to assure one that our products – products that we believe will improve our health – are even safe. How could we, when we have no way of knowing whether our medicines and vitamins come from “run down stores” or from clean and maintained facilities? Personally, I’d rather not take penicillin if I’m not sure if it has mold or worse.

Few solutions at the moment, sadly. Eat right to start. The better you keep up with your diet, the less vitamins you will need, and considering recent reports that the nutrient value of our crops is declining, you may want to buy organic. Few Western doctors now prescribe penicillin as a first choice, so this is good news and there are natural pain relievers available for minor aches and pains, such as headaches and muscle aches.

Bottom line: take care of yourself and there will be less need for medications or vitamins of any kind. Write to Congress and the Food and Drug Administration and let them know that this situation is unacceptable. Especially for those with children, or who have chronic illnesses, this is particularly puzzling. In other words, in the face of foreign exploitation, take the great traditions of America and start applying them. Stop buying products that you are unsure about, at least as much as possible, and start using the democratic process to protest. So many policies become objectionable simply because, well, we don’t object.

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