Mexico City [Mexico], May 11 : Mexican authorities are seizing packages containing fentanyl from China at a Mexican port, NTD reported. The country's president said he would ask China to help stop the drug flow.
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as an analgesic (pain relief) and anaesthetic.
According to NTD, the packages mainly contain the precursor chemicals used to make the synthetic opioid. Those that aren't seized could be made into pills and smuggled into the US through the Southern border.
US authorities last year, confiscated over 300 million doses of fentanyl, enough for the entire US population.
The drug in 2021 alone, killed over 70,000 Americans. That's about one person every eight minutes. To put it in perspective, fentanyl has killed more Americans than car accidents and cancer.
Meanwhile, Financial Times recently reported that a majority of EU member states are pushing for legislation to address shortages of critical drugs and to reduce dependency on imported chemicals from China and other countries.
Belgium and 18 other countries, including Germany and France have called for a "last-resort" mechsm to swap medicines between member states and the establishment of a list of critical drugs whose supply chains must be monitored.
According to Financial Times, the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine have thrown into sharp relief both the fragility and strategic importance of pharmaceutical supply chains.
"It's a bit like Russian gas," said an official from one of the countries pushing the proposals. "When it's cheap and flowing, it's great for your industry. Until it doesn't, and then it's really expensive."
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