The drug-thinner Heparin has been linked to over 80 deaths in the United States. However, the Federal Drug Administration is withholding the names of the Chinese companies who supplied the drugs to U.S. drug companies.  7,000 Americans die each year due to medication errors.  The heparin situation was brought to light recently due to the the actor Dennis Quaid’s testimony in front of Congress when his twins were administered 1,000 times the normal dose of the drug.   The Quaid situation was due to alleged faulty labeling of the drug containers.  However, there was also contamination of the blood thinner.  The Food and Drug Administration sent out heparin alerts to hundreds of hospitals, medical societies and pharmaceutical organizations after discovering that the blood thinner was tainted.  It is alleged that due to an effort to decrease production cost, Chinese companies may have used lower quality ingredients which resulted in the contamination.  Congress is in the process of conducting a full scale investigation but is being stonewalled by the FDA when it requests the names of the Chinese companies that supplied the contaminated medication.   Rep. FDA’s top drug safety official, Janet Woodcock, and her deputyof Michigan and the person who runs the investigations panel of the House Commerce Committee recently sent a letter to FDA chief,  Andrew von Eschenbach, urging him towards including subpoena power in a bill pending in the House regarding drug importation.  The FDA has not requested such power and in the past has relied on the Justice Department as its enforcement tool.  However, in a recent hearing before the House on the Heparin crisis, Stupak asked FDA’s top drug safety official, Janet Woodcock, and her deputy if they would like subpoena power?  Both officials agreed that subpoena power would be “very useful.”  Giving the FDA subpoena power would allow the FDA to demand certain documents from regulated companies.  Therefore, it would not have to consider such alleged encumbrances as confidentiality agreements.  There has been no response from the FDA.   Further, an aide revealed that von Eschenbach plans to drag this issue out for the remainder of the year.  I don’t know about you but the reason that the FDA exists is to protect American consumers and if it is not accomplishing its primary purpose what is the point of its existence?