- Well, COVID-19 hasexposed a number of things

about the U.S. and China.

One is how America depends on China

for prescription drugs in a major way.

What's been an underlying concern

for a couple of decades now

is now coming to the surface.

CBN National Security correspondentEric Philips has more.

- Over the last 20 years,the U.S. has outsourced

much of its drug manufacturing to China.

Now, the lower cost made it seem

like a good idea at the time,

but now, in the middle of a pandemic,

the U.S. could finditself at China's mercy.

- This is very hiddenfrom the American public.

It took me three years to figure this out.

- [Eric] Author Rosemary Gibson

wrote China Rx two years ago.

In it, she chronicledAmerica's over-reliance

on China for generic prescription drugs,

and pointed out a potentialresult of that dependence.

- And that prediction was,

in the event of a naturaldisaster or global pandemic,

if China shuts the door on exports,

on sending us these important products,

the United States could end up

standing in line with other countries

to get these core componentsfor our medicines.

- [Eric] Two years later,COVID-19 is rocking the world,

setting the stage for Gibson's warning

to possibly come true.

- We have production shutdowns in China

because people were not going to work.

Transportation routes andlogistics have been disrupted.

- [Eric] Right now, we buygeneric drugs from China

for numerous conditions,including Alzheimer's,

Parkinson's, diabetes,high blood pressure,

HIV/AIDS, depression.

- We can't make the generic antibiotics

that mothers give to theirchildren for ear infections,

or that you take forbronchitis, or pneumonia.

- [Eric] Gibson says that'sbecause China controls

the core chemicals to make them.

She says China makes 10%of our generic drugs,

and with that amount growing,

they could soon name their price.

- Our dependence will be total.

- [Eric] It's a problem so serious

Gibson recently testified,

along with other experts, on Capitol Hill.

- There's no question the coronavirus

is causing a concern onour supply chain on drugs.

That's a fact.

Now, we need to be able tohave domestic production.

That's a need.

- [Eric] A need thatcould lead to a solution.

- We have to bring our ability

to make our medicines back home.

We have some tremendously talented,

innovative people in this country.

And they want to start making medicines

in a quicker, faster, cheaper way.

- [Eric] Gibson pointedout, however, that companies

will need governmentbacking to get it done,

otherwise, China will undercut them.

- What the medicine dependencyof the United States

on unreliable and probablydangerous Chinese suppliers

represents, is a microcosmof what the Chinese

have been doing to us for decades.

- [Eric] Gibson says COVID-19 has provided

a costly wake-up call that was necessary.

- This has become real.

It's not theoretical, this is real.

And so, this is amotivation for us to fix it.

- The other issue is quality control.

Gibson says some of themedicines from China

have been found to either be contaminated,

or not contain any medicine at all,

all results that do not bode well

for the American consumer.