Reuters: FDA to screen all imports, exemptions for low-value shipments revoked

[keangkong]

It's a good thing that the research peptides that I obtain from China are not described as research peptides or drugs.

 

[MsGizmo]

OK so let me put my input on this real quick The borders and customs patrol are going to have this machine that's going to be able to read chemicals that are on or round packages and they're going to have a database that's going to include our peptides and if the package yields any of those chemicals is going to flag it for inspection. This is a highly advanced machine that can read through packages and X ray with any type of chemical trace at all near the package. They started implementing this in 2017 and have been ongoing and updating ever since with new technology and AI.

And yet the supply of fenty is apparently untouched.

 

[MsGizmo]

Someone posted in this thread already, the problem is numbers, and to get ACCURACY and VOLUME would take a herculean effort across all customs ports, which I personally doubt the US right now has that skill of organization to actually implement.

Oh, we have the ability and skill to do it if we wanted .. but it would be expensive. Because of that its never going to happen. Let's be honest with ourselves, if they don't stop fenty from getting in, a drug that is literally killing people and costing our economy an estimated 2.3 trillion a year, they are certainly not going to stop GLP-1, a substance that is saving us money. Imagine if every obese person in the US was handed tirzepitide for $50 a month instead of $650. We could end up SAVING an estimated 1.4 trillion a year between lower medical costs, disability expenses, transportation and all the other hidden expenses related to obesity.

Nah, they aren't going to stop the flow of peptides. At most they will make some token efforts every now and then so they can tell big pharma that they tried.

 

[Airborne Daddy]

The line between panic buying and waiting to hear more updates is so thin… just an fyi I’m in some groups for luxury goods from China- they are cracking down on that as well. Those folks are definitely panic buying right now.

This too shall pass. If it doesn't then we will. About 12 years earlier than we could have made it hahahaha.

 

[Bjd4162]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/fda-screen-all-imports-exemptions-low-value-shipments-revoked-2025-07-15/

Can also read here

https://www.ajot.com/news/fda-to-screen-all-imports-exemptions-for-low-value-shipments-revoked

They are coming for the grey market guys, this might be a big deal

did they hire thousands of new employees?

 

[ZippityDooDah]

The time to really worry about any of this will be when they've solved fentanyl.

Until then it will just be a matter of periodic hassles and inconveniences.

 

[yobculture]

did they hire thousands of new employees?

Haha. That’s the funny part. They’ve fired about 121,000 government employees (and between 3,500 to 10,000 FDA employees) and yet the government seems bigger than ever right now. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Crazy times.

 

[chmuse]

I think we can sum everything up like this:
- Trying to shut down something that people generally do not view as a bad thing has NEVER worked, WILL never work, and will ALWAYS be worked around.
- The ONLY way to reduce black markets of generally socially acceptable things is to make ease of access and cost more available (look at Piracy/Alcohol/Weed and all those things the government has invested billions if not trillions on to stop).

As long as GLP-1's are not killing people (which they will never as a pure form), then the more socially intelligent and enterprising individuals will be able to get a supply of.

I mean, they could always poison us like they did with alcohol during prohibition.

 

[texmexpep]

did they hire thousands of new employees?

Exactly! This is what makes me imagine a conveyer belt that dropping a bunch of packages coming from certain countries into bins to sit there for a while, making it seem like they are actually doing more inspecting. In turn this creates panic and worry hoping it will deter some from ordering from overseas. That's what I want to believe!! 😁

 

[indolent]

I'm completely confident that Balto will deliver my tirz on time if an FDA-generated blizzard hits

 

[rsmith]

Exactly. Unless FDA is going to shed a few thousand employees and give them to CBP nothing in that article is going to happen. And that's even assuming CBP would accept those bodies from FDA. As a US government employee, I can tell you inter-agency cooperation is practically nonexistent between most.

At best, CBP may start doing what they did in Chicago a month or so ago. Surging agents to one or more specific ports of entry for increased scrutiny of small imports that only lasts for 30-60 days. They can't do it forever, and they don't want to anyway. CBP and DEA/DOJ have bigger fish to fry than Chinese Peptide Cowboys.

CBP and DEA/DOJ have bigger fish to fry than Chinese Peptide Cowboys.
This has nothing to do with 3-letter agencies in the government. It's all motivated, financed and lobbied by exceedingly greedy pharmaceutical companies. Imagine if Bayer could charge $2000 per aspirin (and they most certainly would if they could). People would find multiple ways to get the same ingredients for pennies.

A friend of a friend bought many 1000's of dollars’ worth of genuine Cuban cigars for years which of course were also restricted for import. Never had a single shipment intercepted even though they too were guaranteed for re-delivery/refund if necessary.

Despite the scare tactics by big pharma, they can't stop the grey market with threats of government intervention. Their only choice is to compete on price and quality on peps, like they did for aspirin, and they are currently miles away from doing so.

 

[rsmith]

I hope screen all imports mean they have a screening process where they pick 50 packs a day out of 20, 000.... notice they said screen not inspect.

If anything, it will be closer to 50 packs out of 20 million... meaningless and insignificant. Hundreds of millions of parcels enter the country every single day and it would literally take millions of people to screen them all. It's just not going to happen.

 

[rsmith]

Quick question... I have a 10mg vial of Reta. How much water do I put in it? 😉

If you're really thirsty, use more water. If not, use less... duh!

 

[rsmith]

The line between panic buying and waiting to hear more updates is so thin… just an fyi I’m in some groups for luxury goods from China- they are cracking down on that as well. Those folks are definitely panic buying right now.

just an fyi I’m in some groups for luxury goods from China

So, you're stocking up on designer "handbags" and Rolex watches huh? They're always available in NYC Chinatown if your supplier hits a snag 😎