By Deutsche Welle
07 Aug 2024, 10:34 AM EDT
China will impose tighter controls on the production and trade of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, Beijing and Washington said Tuesday (06.08.2024) after a round of negotiations to try to contain the trafficking of this lethal substance.
Beijing’s decision to impose controls on the three precursor chemicals used in the production of this synthetic opioid represent a “valuable step forward,” the White House said Tuesday.
In a statement released this week, China’s Ministry of Public Security said the three chemicals (4-AP, 1-boc-4-AP and Norfentanyl) had been added to the list of substances whose production and sale are subject to heightened scrutiny.
This portfolio will also force companies that produce these substances to acquire special permits before transporting them.
The new rules will come into effect from September 1, the ministry said.
At a meeting in November 2023 in the United States, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised his counterpart Joe Biden to act to end the fentanyl trade.
“Zero tolerance”
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had previously described China as “the primary source of all fentanyl-related substances trafficked” into the US.
China denied any complicity in the deadly tradestressed his “zero tolerance” policy on drugs and insisted that the origin of the crisis was addiction in the United States.
According to Washington, most of the chemical precursors used for this drug are sent from China to Mexico, where they are processed before reaching the United States.
The Biden administration is also working with the Mexican government to prevent fentanyl traffickingan issue that has generated tensions between the two neighboring countries.
Fentanyl is a much stronger drug than heroin and causes about 75,000 overdose deaths each year in the United States.
Authorities in that country say that it is the main cause of death among its population between 18 and 49 years old.
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