Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced this week that his office joined 19 other state attorneys general in a letter expressing concern over potential national security risks posed by Chinese suppliers of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight loss drugs, warning of reported ties to fentanyl precursor manufacturers, as well as injections being imported to the United States under false labels.
“Only legitimate medicines from accountable sources should be allowed into our country,” stated Skrmetti. “Foreign suppliers who exploit weaknesses in our supply chain to import relabeled or adulterated products pose risks to both our public health and our national security.”
Skrmetti added, “Tennessee will keep working with our federal partners and our fellow states to protect the integrity of medicine in America.”
The letter, addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his capacity as the National Security Adviser to President Donald Trump, warned the White House of their concerns with “Chinese-sourced active pharmaceutical ingredients used in GLP-1 drugs, including semaglutide, tirzepatide, and retatrutide,” describing them as “knock-off drugs bypassing our nation’s safeguards,” which could be tied to fentanyl producers.
According to the attorneys general, the concerns stem from the Green List the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created in September 2025, which allowed certain Chinese suppliers to ship specific classes of GLP-1 drugs into the United States without advanced scrutiny.
The FDA has already warned Harbin Jixianglong Biotech, a Chinese company that can sell its drugs in the United States under the Green List, after inspectors discovered it acquired GLP-1 drugs from an unapproved facility and then relabeled the injections to pass them off as its own.
According to the attorneys general, the conditions are similar to those that existed prior to the 2008 Heparin crisis, during which imports of the blood-thinning drug from China were contaminated with a toxic counterfeit substance. The tainted Heparin from China was linked to 81 deaths in the United States.
The letter also cited a recent news report revealing Chinese fentanyl manufacturers are switching to GLP-1 drugs in the wake of the Trump administration’s fight to curtail the synthetic opioid’s presence in the country.
Last year, Skrmetti led a 38-state and territory coalition requesting the FDA take action against companies allegedly distributing unapproved weight loss drugs. He also joined U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in a letter urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
