China's 'Silent Chemical War'

The U.S. must investigate Beijing's role in the manufacturing of fentanyl that is killing Americans, says one mom whose daughter died after accidentally taking the illicit substance

- DAN GOODING

THE MOTHER OF A WOMAN WHO LOST HER life to fentanyl believes that the United States is under chemical attack, as she and other families of victims call for sanctions on China over its role in the crisis.

Andrea Thomas, whose daughter Ashley Romero died in 2018 from an accidental overdose of the synthetic opioid, is asking the U.S. Trade Representative, or USTR, to investigate China's role in the manufacturing of the illicit substance.

The group she helped start, Facing Fentanyl, and its lawyers allege inaction by the Chinese government to stop the manufacture of the drug has cost the U.S. trillions of dollars, as well as thousands of lives each year.

A spokesperson Embassy in the U.S. told Newsweek that the country had the "strongest determination, the most relentless policy and one of the best records in the world" on counternarcotics, including fighting the production of precursor chemicals.

"I know what my family has experienced, I don't have to do this," Thomas told Newsweek. "I can go back to my house, enjoy my grandchildren, the life that we've missed fighting this.

"There is nothing we can do to bring her back. Nothing. This is so horrific that we cannot risk another family experiencing this and that's why we do it."

Thousands of American Families Affected According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, synthetic opioids like fentanyl account for 70 percent of overdose deaths in the U.S., and that number is rising. In 2022, the number of these overdoses-approximately 74,000-was nearly 25 times higher than in 2010. Among the most bedeviling problems with fentanyl is that a fatal dose is tiny and can be secreted inside other pills. It is not something a person can see, taste or smell. Not everyone affected is struggling with substance abuse, with children among those who have died after accidentally ingesting the drug.