China Food Fears Go From Pets To People

[Demeter]

Source: Washington Post

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 25, 2007; A01



SHANGHAI -- Something was wrong with the babies. The villagers noticed their heads were growing abnormally large while the rest of their bodies were skin and bones. By the time Chinese authorities discovered the culprit -- severe malnutrition from fake milk powder -- 13 had died....By value, China is the world's No. 1 exporter of fruits and vegetables, and a major exporter of other food and food products, which vary widely, from apple juice to sausage casings and garlic. China's agricultural exports to the United States surged to $2.26 billion last year, according to U.S. figures -- more than 20 times the $133 million of 1980.

China has been especially poor at meeting international standards. The United States subjects only a small fraction of its food imports to close inspection, but each month rejects about 200 shipments from China, mostly because of concerns about pesticides and antibiotics and about misleading labeling. In February, border inspectors for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration blocked peas tainted by pesticides, dried white plums containing banned additives, pepper contaminated with salmonella and frozen crawfish that were filthy.

Since 2000, some countries have temporarily banned whole categories of Chinese imports. The European Union stopped shipments of shrimp because of banned antibiotics. Japan blocked tea and spinach, citing excessive antibiotic residue. And South Korea banned fermented cabbage after finding parasites in some shipments.

As globalization of the food supply progresses, "the food gets more anonymous and gradually you get into a situation where you don't know where exactly it came from and you get more vulnerable to poor quality," said Michiel Keyzer, director of the Centre for World Food Studies at Vrije University in Amsterdam, who researches China's exports to the European Union.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402539.html?referrer=email

---

EMBARGO CHINA'S AGRICULTURAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS!

[aquart]

1. I want labeling to include source.

[closeupready]

7. That is a pet peeve of mine - products listed as "imported"

FROM WHERE???? You can never find out, even if you call them. :mad:

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Isn't China a communist country? Aren't they supposed to be the enemy?

Does any of this bad news come as any surprise?

[Demeter]

3. I'm Surprised That Nobody But I Call for Embargo

I really want them shut out of our food chain.

[piedmont]

4. I'll join you in that call. nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. It's an utterly monstrous situation.

They have a strangle hold on this country, and nobody even sees it.

[va4wilderness]

8. Definitely.

Even labeling does not take care of the problem. Because everytime you go to a restaurant you risk eating wheat gluten or other food from an unknown source. And then there are those who might deliberately mislabel food once it gets the the US.

(Of course I try to buy as local as possible anyway. Part of the problem - regardless of where you live - is the consumer's separation from the people actually raising our food and the long distances it has to travel - be it from California to the eastern US, or from Chile and China to the US).

[Coventina]

10. I'm all for boycotting China, period.

With the human rights abuses, animal abuses, environmental abuses, and now this?!?!?!

They need to get their act together before going prime time.

If they want to join civilized society, that's great, but that means that they have to treat people, animals and the land with respect.

[StarryNite]

13. Count me in on that boycott.

Be American, buy American.

[ryanmuegge]

15. A prerequisite to buying domestically: we actually have to make things here.

Once we take care of that in the next.....oh...trillion years, we can start that boycott we all dream about.

Too bad no one in congress really has the guts to take a stand on this.

[StarryNite]

18. Just how do we

go about turning things around? How do we get the manufacturers to start making things in America once again? Especially when they are rewarded so handsomely for outsourcing. It may be to the point of no return. Instead of being rewarded for outsourcing, the government needs to tax the hell out of their products when they are imported to America.

[ryanmuegge]

19. Yeah, that's why the industrial base is never coming back.

[candice]

25. Support local farmer's markets, grow your own veggies if you can...

Buying locally makes more sense each day. Also, if we turn into thoughtful buyers, and buy only what we needed, and used recycled sources, such as freecycle and consignment shops, we wouldn't have the trade surplus with China, nor contribute to their pollution. Our throw-away culture poduces more than anyone could possibly need.

[Demeter]

33. Organized Boycotts

People have to be concerned enough to ask where it came from, insist on labelling, get stores to not stock it, get regular employees to squeal on violators, etc. And hammer Congress, until they do it.

[Shallah Kali]

27. I agree that China was worthy of boycotting even before this

but if I am going to buy from countries what does treat people, animals and the land with respect I seriously have to reconsidering buying American. I will do trying to support ethical companies as much as possible, reduce the trade deficit that has our nation in hock to China and other foreign powers, and to reduce global warming because my food didn't travel around the world before I got it.

[City Lights]

21. Count me in!

I'm not holding my breath though.

[Shallah Kali]

29. They own our national debt 2nd only to Japan. They OWN us.

http://www.ustreas.gov/tic/mfh.txt

MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES
(in billions of dollars)
HOLDINGS 1/ AT END OF PERIOD


New 5/ Old 5/
Series Series
Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun Jun May Apr Mar Feb
Country 2007 2007 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------

Japan 617.8 627.4 622.9 615.9 618.1 618.1 623.5 614.9 614.7 636.2 636.8 639.4 639.0 656.4
China, Mainland 416.2 400.9 396.9 393.8 392.2 389.7 386.5 378.2 372.3 328.0 324.6 321.1 319.2 318.4
United Kingdom 2/ 119.0 102.9 92.3 75.7 61.3 61.6 54.6 44.3 55.5 201.1 174.3 166.2 179.2 162.4
Oil Exporters 3/ 110.8 111.8 110.2 106.4 107.2 113.7 116.6 112.4 110.8 102.2 103.4 99.7 98.1 96.2
Carib Bnkng Ctrs 4/ 66.4 68.3 72.3 87.2 72.7 69.5 79.6 85.8 73.6 69.6 65.2 57.1 62.7 51.1

{snip}

1/ Estimated foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury marketable and non-marketable bills, bonds, and notes
reported under the Treasury International Capital (TIC) reporting system are based on annual
Surveys of Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities and on monthly data.
2/ United Kingdom includes Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
3/ Oil exporters include Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria.
4/ Caribbean Banking Centers include Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles and Panama.
Beginning with new series for June 2006, also includes British Virgin Islands.

[mitchtv]

35. you must mean Cuba

not China they are commie "partners"

[partylessinOhio]

5. What is Madame Squeaker's response to protect Americans and their pets

from Chinese food imports? Can't step on the toes of big business?

[closeupready]

9. At a minimum, consumers should be able to inform themselves

so as to make a decision with which they are comfortable. That could mean some sort of truth-in-labeling law.

[lagavulin]

12. Absolutely! As the scorecard now stands:

2 (known) importers involved: only 1 named.

5 (known) manufacturers involved: only 3 named (and recalling their products).

These un-named companies evidently have deep political clout! The FDA is a sham...


Oh--and speaking of the FDA being a sham, the public has until April 30th to express their comments on the FDA takeover of the "complementary alternative medicine" trades, which includes foods, vitamins, juices, herbs, natural supplements and holistic practices of all kinds. A good backgrounder on why this is agency malfeasance and not public service is available at http://www.newstarget.com/021789.html">NewsTarget.com. You can submit your comments http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/COMMENTSMain.CFM?EC_DOCUMENT_ID=1451&SUBTYP=CONTINUE&CID=&AGENCY=FDA">at the FDA's site here.

(edited to fix broken link)

[StarryNite]

14. Thanks for the links.

This is supposed to be America. The * administration has done nothing but try to trash OUR constitution and take our personal rights away. This should be a very important call to action for even those who do not chose alternative health care.

First they came for the Jews,
By amudhan 05/03/2002 At 07:46

Berlin, 1939:



First they came for the Jews,
But I did not speak out,
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists,
And I did not speak out,
Because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade-unionists,
And I did not speak out,
Because I was not a trade-unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
And I did not speak out,
Because I was not a Catholic.

Then they came for me,
And there was no one left to speak out for me.

- Pastor Niemller (Anti-Nazi Resistance Movement)

[ryanmuegge]

16. It's been so politicized under Bush II (especially), Clinton, Bush, and Reagan..

That it's almost completely toothless.

[ryanmuegge]

17. Under no circumstances. Big business, after all, is their only true constituency.

Anyone thinking otherwise is dreaming.

[Amused Musings]

11. This is probably the

best defense of agricultural subsidies I've heard. I am definitely re-thinking my position on the issue. It is a pretty scary thought that our food may be coming from places like this who pour poison on foodstuffs. All I can think of is Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle."

[Ian David]

20. Do we REALLY want to be importing bulk protein from a country with so many executions...

Seriously.

What if this "bulk protein" we've been feeding our dogs and cats...



... is made from people like him?

[candice]

26. More than likely made from melted plastic from our out-of-date electronic

equipment shipped over to Asia to pollute their land, but the Chinese manufacturing mania has cost them their own farm land, polluted their country, and disrupted the lives of many who move from rural areas to the cities to take jobs to make things most people don't need.

[City Lights]

22. I'm surprised the FDA actually rejects about 200 shipments each month.

But since we only closely inspect a small percentage of our food imports, I gotta wonder what kinda shit they're missing. :scared: :puke:

[Shallah Kali]

24. 1% of imported food is inspected. not much of a safety net

:puke:

[AwakeAtLast]

23. I'm humming a 10,000 maniacs song

Anyone care to guess the name?

I'm not exactly happy that this reminded me of that song, BTW :(

[KT2000]

28. Chemicals too

We are getting a lot of chemicals from China now too.

Wonder if anyone is checking those.

[Mika]

30. LET THE MARKET RULE!!!

If people don't want to buy poisonous products then the market for them will disappear.

:sarcasm:

[NYC]

31. Or

the people will disappear, from having consumed the poisonous products.

This is why I never agreed with Milton Friedman's invisible hand. Death? Numerous corpses will force the companies to change their products? I see that as being too late.

[Javaman]

32. Pet food is People!!! nt

[donkeyotay]

34. This is what we are supposed to compete with?

When they shipped jobs overseas they said we had to lower our wages to compete. They said we had to get rid of regulation to compete. They said we had to drown government in the bathtub to compete. How long until China decides it needs an EPA and an FDA and unions? And what stops the corporations from moving on to the next country?