In a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and Department of Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) demanded that the Biden-Harris administration guarantee that goods being imported into the U.S. are not made with slave labor from Uyghur Muslims — who have been treated horrifically in concentration camps by the Chinese Communist Party.
The move was prompted by the U.S. government’s failure to abide by a bill introduced by Rubio and signed into law in 2021, titled the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) — which would “ensure that goods made with the slave labor of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and elsewhere in the People’s Republic of China do not enter the United States.”
The actions taken by the Biden-Harris Administration violates my Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which went into effect in 2022. https://t.co/drNSt8wTb6
— Senator Marco Rubio (@SenMarcoRubio) November 1, 2024
In the letter, Rubio highlighted “recent reports identifying two pharmaceutical producers based in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that are permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to distribute their products in the U.S.”
Slave-made pharmaceuticals are still being imported into the U.S. even though my law banning this went into effect in 2022.
Sent a letter to DHS & the FDA demanding the agencies enforce the law and ensure these goods aren't distributed in the U.S.https://t.co/W0umMo4ucV
— Senator Marco Rubio (@SenMarcoRubio) October 31, 2024
“This is in clear violation of current law which prohibits imports from the region due to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) egregious human rights abuses, including genocide, forced abortions, and forced sterilizations,” he continued.
“Recent analysis by the Centers for Advanced Defense Studies exposed that the FDA currently allows at least two pharmaceutical producers, Xinjiang Nuziline Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. and SEL Biochem Xinjiang Co. to import APIs and drug products into the U.S.,” Rubio added. “Both of these companies are linked to slave labor in Xinjiang and are not listed on the UFLPA Entity List.”
His letter went on to explain that the American people should be guaranteed that the products that they buy are not made using slave labor, but the FDA and DHS have failed the American people by not doing their duty.
“The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act assures the American people that the products they purchase were made without slave labor,” Rubio explained. “It is clear that the lack of oversight by the FDA has not made this true. The FDA and DHS have a responsibility to rectify this dangerous error and uphold the law. Therefore, I demand both departments and the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to immediately place Xinjiang Nuziline Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. and SEL Biochem Xinjiang Co. on the UFLPA Entity List. I also ask that the FDA and DHS complete a thorough review of every company authorized to distribute pharmaceuticals and API in the United States to ensure compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.”
