But quite apart from the headline-hogging aspects of offshoring our manufacturing base or our brain trust (and with it any motivation for new generations to opt for useful trades), there is the the question of whether or not America's corporate kleptocrats are digging our graves in more than a purely economic sense.
As if the profits made by Big Pharma weren't obscene enough, let's talk about the "side effects" of offshoring drug manufacturing to squeeze a few more drops of cream from that cash cow:
- First, there's the strategic aspect. If medicines, particularly vaccines, are primarily manufactured in China, the question of availability (particularly in times of pandemic) are second only to those of quality, given the litany of tainted and/or deadly products in the headlines. In the event of pandemic, the Chinese government will--quite understandably--attempt to take care of its own. Except for those who can be bribed to turn a blind eye to the black market. Which, naturally, will be positively rife with tainted, counterfeit or under-dosed stock.
- Now let's throw into the mix the abysmal environmental track record of these nations, this time turning to India's slice of pharmaceutical manufacturing. The take-away: "Those Indian factories produce drugs for much of the world, including many Americans. The result: Some of India's poor are unwittingly consuming an array of chemicals that may be harmful, and could lead to the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria." [emphasis mine] Yes, I realize that bacteria and viruses are different things, but viruses mutate too, and randomly messing with peoples' immune systems most certainly doesn't help matters.
- Finally, let's connect the last dots by considering the geography of avian influenza. The Spanish Flu pandemic spread world-wide in the considerably slower-paced WWI era. We, on the other hand, live in a world where an iPod is engraved in China Tuesday afternoon and on my desk Thursday morning.
