The China Syndrome

The kings of the east Revelation 6:8 I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. Companies in U.S. Increase Testing of Chinese Goods NEW YORK TIMES - By Nelson D. Schwartz - July 1, 2007 General Mills, Kellogg, Toys “R” Us and other big American companies are increasing their scrutiny of thousands of everyday products they receive from Chinese suppliers, as widening recalls of items like toys and toothpaste force them to focus on potential hazards that were overlooked in the past. - - - The discovery over the last few months of tainted or defective products from China - including toothpaste, tires, toys and fish - has prompted United States lawmakers to fault companies for compromising quality in their quest for inexpensive imports and higher profits. - - - No fatalities or serious injuries from Chinese food products have been reported in the United States, although counterfeit Chinese glycerine has been linked to at least 100 deaths in Panama. In May, senior members of the Bush administration, including the secretary of agriculture, Mike Johanns, raised the food safety issue with Chinese officials during trade talks in Washington. And last week, in a step designed to reassure Western customers, the Chinese government said it had closed 180 food plants and identified 23,000 safety violations. Although they affect only a fraction of imports from China, the rising tempo of alerts, including an F.D.A. restriction imposed on Thursday on sales of five types of Chinese-farmed seafood, has called attention to China’s sudden emergence as a major agricultural exporter. Between 2002 and 2006, F.D.A.-regulated imports of food from China rose from just over 100,000 shipments to nearly 235,000. Experts predict those shipments will reach 300,000 this year. The spate of recalls and the rising volume of exports have highlighted another worry: the increasing dependence of the United States’s biggest food manufacturers on China for basic additives like apple juice, a common sweetener, and preservatives like ascorbic acid. These little-known additives form the building blocks of many popular staples in American kitchens, keeping fruit from turning brown or providing the sweetness in breakfast bars. Food experts note, for example, that China supplies more than half of all the apple juice imported to the United States, up from a fraction a decade ago. Other critical but common additives have followed an even sharper trajectory, according to Peter Kovacs, the former chief executive of NutraSweet Kelco and now a food industry consultant. More than 80 percent of ascorbic acid, better known as vitamin C and also used as a preservative, comes from China, Mr. Kovacs said. Chinese imports of xanthan gum, used to thicken dairy products and salad dressings, account for at least 40 percent of United States consumption. “This is a problem for the whole food chain, but it was a blank spot,” Mr. Kovacs said. “They’re doing it now, but companies weren’t testing these additives before.” - - - - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/business/01imports.html?ex=1341028800&en=b9afee8889ac5308&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Chinese honey now reported among import dangers 15 senators urge FDA to get tough on adulterated sweetener WORLDNETDAILY - June 26, 2007 - - - Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., is blowing the whistle on the latest China import scandal. He is calling on the Food and Drug Administration to implement bans on tainted honey, most of which comes from China. "Almost 70 percent of the honey consumed in our country is imported - most of it from China," says Conrad. "Unfortunately, China has a long track record of importing adulterated honey and engaging in other fraudulent conduct in the honey trade. These actions not only hurt honey producers in North Dakota and across the country, they also present needless health risks to our consumers." In a bipartisan letter signed by 15 senators, Conrad urged the FDA to act on a petition for a standard of identity for honey. Such a regulation would provide a uniform, legal definition of honey purity levels that would aid regulators. Imported honey is an ingredient found in a wide array of products including cereals, snacks, meats and beverages and is also a common ingredient in many health and beauty products. In 2002 and 2003, the FDA and U.S. Customs seized multiple shipments of Chinese honey at U.S. ports which were contaminated with chloramphenicol, an antibiotic that is banned in food products in the U.S. because of its potentially life threatening effects. More recently, there are reports that imported honey is being blended with sugars or being labeled as a blend to avoid U.S. duties. This honey is subsequently sold to U.S. processors as pure honey. A long-time supporter of North Dakota's honey producers, Conrad recently called on the secretary of agriculture to address the growing problem of Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious condition destroying colonies of honeybees across the country. - - - - http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56372 Seafood imports from China raised in untreated sewage Fish products consumed by Americans treated with dangerous drugs, chemicals WORLDNETDAILY - By Joseph Farah - June 4, 2007 WASHINGTON - China, the leading exporter of seafood to the U.S., is raising most of its fish products in water contaminated with raw sewage and compensating by using dangerous drugs and chemicals, many of which are banned by the Food and Drug Administration. The stunning news follows WND's report last week that FDA inspectors report tainted food imports from China are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs. China has consistently topped the list of countries whose products were refused by the FDA - and that list includes many countries, including Mexico and Canada, who export far more food products to the U.S. than China. - - - According to a new report by Food & Water Watch, the aquaculture industry crams fish and shellfish into facilities to maximize production, generating large amounts of waste, contaminating water and spreading disease if left untreated. The industry tries to control the spread of bacterial infections, disease and parasites by pumping the food supplies with antibiotics and the waters with fungicides and pesticides. Many of the products used are banned in the U.S. Traces of these drugs have been showing up increasingly in imports - especially from China. - - - - http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56004 China has cornered the global market for vitamins MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS - By Tim Johnson - May 31, 2007 SHIJIAZHUANG, China - If you pop a vitamin C tablet in your mouth, it's a good bet it came from China. Indeed, many of the world's vitamins are now made in China. In less than a decade, China has captured 90 percent of the U.S. market for vitamin C, driving almost everyone else out of business. Chinese pharmaceutical companies also have taken over much of the world market in the production of antibiotics, analgesics, enzymes and primary amino acids. According to an industry group, China makes 70 percent of the world's penicillin, 50 percent of its aspirin and 35 percent of its acetaminophen (often sold under the brand name Tylenol), as well as the bulk of vitamins A, B12, C and E. In the wake of a pet food scandal, in which adulterated wheat gluten from China led to the deaths of thousands of pets in North America, and other instances of food and toothpaste tampering, China's vitamin producers are reaching out to reassure U.S. consumers that their vitamins are safe. Whether that's true isn't clear, however. Foreign food-safety experts say China's larger companies have reputations to protect. The question is how they maintain quality control. In this pharmaceutical hub, a two-hour train ride south of Beijing, managers at what may be the world's largest vitamin C factory said they're constantly improving quality control to keep pace with the tenfold increase in production this decade. "We used to only comply with domestic standards. Now we must comply with international standards," said Liu Lifeng, an aide to the general manager at the Weisheng Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Food and drug safety inspectors drop in at the plant from time to time. "The authorities come unexpectedly without telling us," added Tian Yumiao, the senior director of the quality control department of Weisheng. But the inspectors aren't exactly neutral guardians of public health. They work for the city government, which is a part owner of the parent company of Weisheng Pharmaceutical. That kind of relationship between food and drug inspectors and China's booming agricultural and pharmaceutical industries is coming to the fore as an issue in the food safety debate. The local government in this thriving city of 2 million people would suffer if it did anything to hurt the growth of local vitamin and drug producers, and local officials might be reluctant to admit that a public safety issue had arisen. "That's a conflict of interest right there," said Kathryn Boor, a food safety expert at Cornell University. "You really need a disinterested party involved in inspections." Issues of food and drug safety ripple across China today. The former chief of the state Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, was given the death sentence Tuesday for taking $832,000 in bribes to let unsafe drugs on the market. One Zheng aide was sentenced to a 15-year jail term last autumn, and a second was accused in May in the bribery scandal. A survey earlier this year said more than three-fifths of Chinese worry about whether the food they eat is contaminated or adulterated. - - - - http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/17306227.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp Contaminated Counterfeit Toothpaste Now Found in 6 States, Canada ASSOCIATED PRESS - July 1, 2007 WASHINGTON - Counterfeit Colgate toothpaste has now turned up in Canada, where testing has found dangerous bacteria but not the poisonous chemical previously detected in four U.S. states, a health official said Saturday. In addition, store owners and police say they have discovered that the bogus Colgate was sold in Michigan and Virginia. The FDA warned earlier in June that fake Colgate distributed in Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania may contain a poisonous chemical called diethylene glycol, or DEG, that typically is used in antifreeze. That toothpaste was the subject of a June 13 recall by a New Jersey distributor. It was not immediately clear if the counterfeit products in Pinconning, Mich., and Arlington, Va., had been tested for DEG. In Canada, testing did not find the chemical but did show high levels of harmful bacteria, said Paul Duchesne, a spokesman for Health Canada. - - - - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C287544%2C00.html Wider Sale Is Seen for Toothpaste Tainted in China NEW YORK TIMES - By Walt Bogdanich - June 28, 2007 After federal health officials discovered last month that tainted Chinese toothpaste had entered the United States, they warned that it would most likely be found in discount stores. In fact, the toothpaste has been distributed much more widely. Roughly 900,000 tubes containing a poison used in some antifreeze products have turned up in hospitals for the mentally ill, prisons, juvenile detention centers and even some hospitals serving the general population. The toothpaste was handed out in dozens of state institutions, mostly in Georgia but also in North Carolina, according to state officials. Hospitals in South Carolina and Florida also reported receiving Chinese-made toothpaste, and a major national pharmaceutical distributor said it was recalling tainted Chinese toothpaste. - - - - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/us/28tooth.html?ei=5090&en=a00a39144f0b11b4&ex=1340683200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print Toxic Toothpaste Made in China Is Found in U.S. NEW YORK TIMES - By Walt Bogdanich - June 2, 2007 Consumers were advised yesterday to discard all toothpaste made in China after federal health officials said they found Chinese-made toothpaste containing a poison used in some antifreeze in three locations: Miami, the Port of Los Angeles and Puerto Rico. Although there are no reports of anyone being harmed by the toothpaste, the Food and Drug Administration warned that the Chinese products had a “low but meaningful risk of toxicity and injury” to children and people with kidney or liver disease. The United States is the seventh country to find tainted Chinese toothpaste within its borders in recent weeks. Agency officials said they found toothpaste containing a small amount of diethylene glycol, a sweet, syrupy poison, - - - - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/us/02toothpaste.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China NEW YORK TIMES - By Eric S. Lipton And David Barboza - June 19, 2007 WASHINGTON, June 18 - China manufactured every one of the 24 kinds of toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas & Friends wooden train sets, a record that is causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators. - - - The toys were coated at a factory in China with lead paint, which can damage brain cells, especially in children. Just in the last month, a ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene. Sets of toy drums and a toy bear were also recalled because of lead paint, and an infant wrist rattle was recalled because of a choking hazard. Over all, the number of products made in China that are being recalled in the United States by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has doubled in the last five years, driving the total number of recalls in the country to 467 last year, an annual record. It also means that China today is responsible for about 60 percent of all product recalls, compared with 36 percent in 2000. - - - - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/business/worldbusiness/19toys.html?ex=1340078400&en=a221040c50d4ab5d&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink China exports lead poisoning From eye shadow to glazed pottery, products pose danger to U.S. kids WORLDNETDAILY - June 7, 2007 WASHINGTON - In the wake of scandals involving tainted food and toothpaste from China comes word of a new concern from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission as well as the Food and Drug Administration - toys, makeup, glazed pottery and other products that contain significant amounts of lead. While lead poisoning among children was once mainly caused by old paint, U.S. manufacturers long ago banned the ingredient. Today, a new rash of high lead levels in the bloodstreams of American kids is being caused by foreign products - mainly from China. So serious is the resurgence of lead poisoning among U.S. children that the Iowa Department of Public Health is working on writing a new law to require mandatory testing of those entering school for the first time. Lead poisoning, once a concern mainly in dilapidated urban areas, can cause learning disabilities, kidney failure, anemia and irreversible brain damage in children. Rita Gergely, chief of Iowa's bureau of lead poisoning prevention, specifically cited concerns about children's jewelry imported from China. - - - - http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56056 Cheap Chinese tires blamed for fatalities New Jersey lawsuit warns massive recall may be necessary WORLDNETDAILY - June 26, 2007 Cheap Chinese tires missing a safety feature are blamed for a fatal traffic accident, according to a lawsuit in New Jersey that warns as many as 450,000 light truck tires may need to be recalled. A gum strip that helps prevent separation of steel belts might have been omitted in tires manufactured by China's Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. and imported by Foreign Tire Sales Inc., of Union, N.J., reported ConsumerAffairs.com The tires were sold under the names Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS. "This is a prime example of a private lawsuit with a substantial public benefit," said Jeffrey B. Killino, an attorney with Woloshin & Killino, which represents the families of the deceased and injured. "The Hangzhou Rubber Company deliberately and secretly removed a safety feature from these tires and two young men died as a direct result. This was a tragedy that didn't have to happen, but hopefully we can prevent future fatal crashes." The lawsuit, filed by Foreign Tire Sales Inc., or FTS, charges tread separation caused a cargo van carrying four passengers to crash in Pennsylvania Aug.12, 2006, killing two passengers and injuring the other two, ConsumerAffairs.com reported. FTS, noting other American distributors might also have been selling the tires, warns a recall may be necessary, estimating a million or more tires involved. - - - - http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56369 In latest scare, China finds fake veterinary drugs REUTERS - By Ben Blanchard - June 21, 2007 BEIJING - Almost one-fifth of veterinary drugs tested in China in the first quarter were not up to standard, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Thursday, unveiling a long list of fake products. Still, that one-fifth figure is a slight improvement over the same period of last year, the ministry said, putting a positive spin on the announcement. "Although more of the veterinary drugs tested were up to scratch, there remains a problem with the illegal production and sale of fakes," it said in a statement posted on its Web site (www.agri.gov.cn). "There is especially a glaring problem with underground dens selling fakes," the ministry added, vowing tougher action. - - - - http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSPEK28277720070621?feedType=RSS&rpc=22&sp=true Is China trying to poison Americans and their pets? U.S. market flooded with foods unfit for humans, tainted with carcinogens, pesticides, bacteria, drugs WORLDNETDAILY - May 27, 2007 WASHINGTON - While Americans are still recovering from a scandal over poison pet foods imported from China, FDA inspectors report tainted food imports intended for American humans are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs. Last month, like most months, China topped the list of countries whose products were refused by the FDA - and that list includes many countries, including Mexico and Canada, who export far more food products to the U.S. than China. Some 257 refusals of Chinese products were recorded in April. By comparison, only 140 were from Mexico and only 23 from Canada. - - - In the past year, the FDA rejected more than twice as many food shipments from China as from all other countries combined. Most of the time, the reason listed is simply "filthy," the official term used when inspectors smell decomposition or gross contamination of food. Officials say FDA inspectors examine only a tiny percentage of the food imported from foreign countries - about 1 percent -- meaning most of the contaminated products make it inside the country and to the shelves of retailers. - - - - http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55892