The Chinese are also worried.

[Amelia]

A Lack Of Faith

Both American And Chinese Citizens Are Worried About Products Made In China

August 28, 2007

(CBS) Americans are increasingly nervous about food imported from China. What most of us don't know is that the Chinese are even more scared of their food. A recent survey showed almost 93% worry that food in China is unsafe.

Author Zhou Qing has investigated China's food problems. "It's not just about food," says Dr. Qing. "Chinese people are worried about everything they buy."

Most Chinese blame their government for lax enforcement. But China expert Ken Lieberthal says Beijing officials may be well intentioned, but can face problems giving orders or getting information from far-flung provinces.

"We can go to the Chinese in Beijing and say we think you have a problem with this particular product and it may take them weeks or months to verify for themselves if there really is a problem... and to get by all the local obstructionism that their inspectors from Beijing run into," says Lieberthal.

Some of the agencies out in the provinces, say critics, actually want there to be problems; it means getting more funding from Beijing for new cars and other perks.

The fear about products is based on scandals involving Chinese products. The worst was in 2004 when more than a dozen babies in one village died of malnutrition because of tainted baby milk powder. The babies who lived will be scarred for life. "There is no way for {this boy} to recover," says one mother.

America got another dose of bad news about China imports with the second recall of Mattel toys made in China. But the bad press China is getting in America could turn things around here. "The Chinese government really cares about its international image, its face," says Dr. Qing.

That concern, says Dr. Qing, means China's government may do a better job checking exports before they leave the country, which means better quality for Americans.

But it does little for the average Chinese, who wonder with every bite what chance they are taking of getting bad food and badly ill from it.

[John317]

The latest I heard was about several people who have gotten bad rashes after wearing thongs made in China. I've decided not to buy any food or toothpaste or anything else I put in my mouth if I know it's made in China.

[Amelia]

This just in,

Toys `R' Us Recalls 27,000 Crayon Boxes After Lead Is Found

By Tom Randall

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Toys ``R'' Us Inc., the biggest U.S. toy-store chain, recalled 27,000 crayon and paint box sets made in China because ink on the wooden cases contains lead.

The recall covers Imaginarium brand 213-piece sets, which include crayons, watercolors, pastels and colored pencils in a light-tan wooden carrying case, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement. Some of the black watercolor paint also contains ``excessive'' levels of lead.

The $20 sets were sold at Toys ``R'' Us stores in the U.S. and at the company's online store from October 2006 through this month. The safety commission said no injuries have been reported and advised consumers to take the products away from children and return them to a Toys ``R'' Us store for credit.

[Amelia]

FYI,

If you are a frequent shopper at "Dollar" stores, please be aware that about 80% of their product is imported from China and other Asian countries that use Chinese made ingredients.

[John317]

That's all the Chinese need-- something else with excessive levels of lead in it.

They need to get a handle on these problems fast or they could do irrepairable harm to the Chinese economy.

[Amelia]

FDA says beware of glycerin imported from China

Pharmaceutical News

Monday, 7-May-2007

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States has issued a warning to drug manufacturers, suppliers and health professionals that counterfeit drug additives have been using diethyline glycol, or DEG as a substitute for glycerin in cough medicine, fever medication and injectable drugs.

DEG is an industrial solvent commonly used in antifreeze and in recent years has caused deaths in Panama and Haiti when it was used as a substitute for glycerin, a more expensive sweet syrup, in cough medicine.

The FDA says some Chinese suppliers are using the poisonous DEG instead of glycerin and is warning manufacturers and suppliers of the importance of testing glycerin for DEG.

The FDA says although they have had no reported contamination cases as yet in the U.S. regarding DEG the most recent incident in Panama in September 2006 involved DEG-contaminated glycerin used in cough syrup and resulted in dozens of hospitalizations for serious injury and more than 40 deaths.

DEG is a chemical cousin of antifreeze that can cause kidney and neurological damage if ingested and though the source was eventually traced back by investigators in four countries to the Taixing Glycerine Factory factory in China, no one in China has ever been charged with causing the Panamanian deaths.

Previously in late 1995 and early 1996, at least 80 children also died in Haiti due to DEG-contaminated glycerin in acetaminophen syrup.

Between 1990 and 1998, similar incidents of DEG poisoning reportedly occurred in Argentina, Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria and resulted in hundreds of deaths.

It was an incident in 1937 when more than 100 people died in the United States after ingesting DEG-contaminated Elixir Sulfanilamide, a drug used to treat infections which led to the enactment of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which is the nation's primary statute on the regulation of drugs.

The FDA is reminding pharmaceutical manufacturers, compounders, repackers, and suppliers, as well as brokers and distributors, that all pharmaceutical manufacturing operations, including the re-packaging and re-labeling of ingredients like glycerin, must conform to current good manufacturing practice (CGMP).

The guidance provides recommendations for complying with CGMP and is intended to help them avoid the use of glycerin that is contaminated with DEG and prevent incidents of DEG poisoning.

Apparently manufacturing and pharmacist organizations are working with the FDA to ensure controls are in place which guard against such a problem ever happening again in the U.S. or elsewhere.

Officials in the U.S. are currently investigating the contamination of pet foods with the chemical melamine again from China, which is normally used to make plastic kitchen utensils and fertilizers.

The poison has killed or sickened an unknown number of dogs and cats and led to the recall of more than 100 brands of pet food.

The incidents have raised concerns about the safety of imports from China to the U.S. and highlights the frequent lack of transparency on the part of Chinese officials.

[Amelia]

Fake diabetic kit alert

Fri, August 24 2007

Mata Press Service

Fake diabetic kits manufactured in China to take sensitive measurements of blood sugar levels were imported into Canada and used by millions of people in North America, according to recently unsealed court documents.

The potentially dangerous counterfeits of the OneTouch Test Strip sold by Johnson & Johnson (J & J) LifeScan unit surfaced in American and Canadian pharmacies last year, according to the U.S. court documents.

A global hunt by J & J – the world’s largest consumer- health products maker – tracked the production of the fakes to a company based in Shanghai, China. The company Halson Pharmaceutical, which has been shut down, also made pregnancy, HIU and Tuberculosis test kits.

http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/...t_alert.do.html

[Amelia]

Fake Medications Are a Growing Threat

There's lots of profit in counterfeit drugs, so consumers should be on guard

By Nancy Shute

Posted 8/21/07

Counterfeit prescription drugs are a $35 billion-a-year business, and it's growing; by some estimates, 50 percent of prescription drugs in Africa, including those used to treat AIDS and malaria, are fake. Americans have long considered themselves immune, but a huge proportion of the prescription medications and devices used in the United States are now manufactured overseas, and the risks are escalating for Americans, too. It's no surprise; last year alone Americans spent $275 billion on their prescriptions.

http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/070821/21counterfeit.htm

[John317]

Thanks for this heads-up. As a diabetic I find that this kind of information can be really important.

[Gail]

If it isn't toys, mattresses or dog food, now it's medicine.

Ever wonder if they are trying to take over the world or something? Just defeat the opposition by poison! I'm sorry, but it's happening WAY too often!

[Amelia]

Actaully, it's a slow but sure way to "invade".