Chinese firms are still producing and exporting to the United States a death-dealing drug called "carfentanil" that's banned in the United States and other countries as a chemical weapon of mass destruction.
The central government in Beijing has so far taken no steps to comply with a request from Washington that Beijing immediately curb production of this deadly synthetic opiod, most of which is still being produced by Chinese firms in mainland China.
Shockingly, carfentanil is not a controlled substance in China, where it is manufactured legally and sold openly online.
Drug dealers are mixing this drug, which is a controlled substance in the U.S. used to euthanize elephants, with heroin and other banned substances to deliver a higher "high" and to make more money. Drugs laced with carfentanil have been directly linked to tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S. over the past few years.
Only recently, carfentanil was confirmed as being behind 19 more deaths in Wayne County in Detroit, Michigan. Carfentanil has also been linked to many deaths in Ohio and U.S. authorities are bracing for a spike in deaths caused by this synthetic opioid.
One reason for carfentanil's popularity as a drug additive is it's very cheap. And Chinese producers, while acknowledging the deadliness of this substance, still continue to produce it because demand remains high in the U.S.
U.S. media said 12 Chinese firms are selling carfentanil for as low as $2,750 a kilogram, no questions asked. These firms are marketing this death-dealing chemical to the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium and Australia.
Drug dealers are adding carfentanil to heroin and other illicit drugs to boost profit margins.
The U.S. government is urging China to blacklist carfentanil, but Beijing refuses to act for whatever reason.
Before being used by drug dealers, carfentanil were viewed as chemical weapons. Carfentanil is so deadly that an amount smaller than a poppy seed can kill a person. Carfentanil is chemically similar to a sister drug called fentanyl, but is 100 times more lethal than fentanyl, which is also used as an additive to drugs.
"It's a weapon," said Andrew Weber, assistant Secretary of Defense for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs from 2009 to 2014.
"Companies shouldn't be just sending it to anybody."