Article

2007-06-17 China-Japan-Koreas

NYT Reviews Chinese Stonewalling on Poisonings

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Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-06-17 04:36|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 The U.S. imports a lot of Chinese glycerin and it is used in ingested products such as toothpaste,

I need to follow up on this, but Mr. Wife mentioned that American-made glycerin is extremely inexpensive, which makes me wonder why anyone felt the need to buy the Chinese stuff.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-06-17 09:38|| 2007-06-17 09:38|| Front Page Top

#2 State-owned exporters then shipped the toxic syrup to European traders, who resold it without identifying the previous owner an attempt to keep buyers from bypassing them on future orders.

Right there. Why should you buy from a trading company, and accept their markup, when you could be buying factory direct?

Posted by gromky 2007-06-17 10:10|| 2007-06-17 10:10|| Front Page Top

#3 The answer to both of you is "kick backs".

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford 2007-06-17 11:39|| 2007-06-17 11:39|| Front Page Top

#4 Sinochem International Chemicals Company, a giant exporter in Beijing owned by the Chinese government.

Please remember exactly who it is that's trying to kill us for a few extra bucks. Let's also not forget who's allowing it to happen.

He added, We cannot be optimistic about our chances for success in tracking down the other possible glycerine shipments. The following May, Mr. Pulham, who was part of the original F.D.A. investigative team in Haiti, tried to revive the investigation. Is it possible to block-list all Chinese pharmaceutical products until we gain cooperation? he asked.

A reasonable question and proper solution to a problem that's been going on for well over a decade. Why don't our politicians take action?

The suggestion went nowhere.

Gee, doesn't our government care more about its citizens being poisoned more than their big business campaign contributors making an extra nickle?

Five months later, Ms. Pendergast of the F.D.A. wrote her memorandum, imploring investigators to keep digging. China is turning into one of the major bulk pharmaceutical producers in the world, she wrote. Unless they have an open, transparent and predictable system for dealing with problems and other countries, it is going to be rough sledding in the years ahead.

Translation: A lot more Americans will need to DIE before their government gets off of its sold-out ass and cracks down on an enemy nation that routinely sends us poisonous foodstocks.

After The Times reported in May that the Panama poison had been made and exported by Chinese companies as 99.5 percent pure glycerin, Chinese regulators said they would reopen their investigation of the incident. Three weeks later, the officials acknowledged some misconduct in how Chinese companies labeled the toxic syrup.
But most of the blame, they said, rested with a Panamanian importer who changed the paperwork to make the syrup look safer than it actually was. The F.D.A. disagrees, saying the deception began with Chinese companies falsely labeling a poisonous product glycerin. If the drums had been 99.5 percent glycerin, the deaths in Panama would never have occurred, the F.D.A. said in a statement.

It isn't "misconduct", it's called "murder". China continues to engage in government sanctioned piracy of intellectual property, copyright violations, product counterfeiting and a host of other illegal trade practices that cost this world TENS OF BILLIONS of dollars PER YEAR. China has already killed THOUSANDS of people around the world with its contaminated and intentionally mislabeled exports. The time is now to begin erecting trade barriers that punish this sort of criminal activity.

The answer to both of you is "kick backs".

It isn't just kick backs. Investors and corporate executives are so obsessed with profitability that ethics have taken a back seat. Even when those ethical lapses can result in loss of life. Remember how Ford's lawyers determined that redesign of the Pinto's flawed gas tank placement would cost more than the wrongful death lawsuits? Thousands of American pets are dead because petfood manufactures could save less than $100 per TON by using tainted Chinese wheat gluten instead a domestically sourced product. Now, consider how the Chinese import wouldn't be cost competitive if their currency wasn't manipulated or the shipping containers that brought the crap here weren't financed by a giant Ponzi scam.

In the pursuit of maximized profits corporate America is willing to hold its nose as they deal with the most corrupt and vile partners. Be it Saudi Arabian financers of terrorism, or Chinese Mandarins and their slave based organ harvesting economy, all are welcomed with open arms. America's politicians are bought off for pennies as they willingly turn a blind eye to the gradual destruction of our industrial base and boat loads of toxic imported garbage being foisted off on us. It's called treason.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-06-17 14:29|| 2007-06-17 14:29|| Front Page Top

#5 Actually, the cost of Chinese glycerin is about 20-30% less than US-produced glycerin, even taking transportation costs into account. Indonesian glycerin is even cheaper, but is in very short supply since it actually being bought up in large quantities -- by the Chinese!

Bulk glycerin is not normally manufactured as such, but is generated as a by-product of the manufacture of fatty acids (the big ticket item) from plant oils. For this reason, no producer sinks a lot of money into their glycerin production - it's just not economical.

The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) sets quality standards for raw materials (no matter whether the source is foreign or domestic) used in manufacturing US drug products. Although USP is a private entity, it is accepted by FDA as authoritative in this regard. USP purity specifications for glycerin are very stringent, and the amount of diethylene glycol and other impurities "allowed" in glycerin for human drug use are strictly limited.

There is no question in this case that the Chimese dumped substandard/contaminated material into the US market. But the other side of the coin is that the drug manufacturer should have double-checked the quality of the incoming glycerin to determine if it was in fact suitable for manufacturing any product intended for human use.

In this case, trust but verify (and then verify again!) is the best rule for avoiding these disastrous public health situations.

Posted by Thor Glairong9168 2007-06-17 16:26|| 2007-06-17 16:26|| Front Page Top

#6 Thor, I'm sorry, but I just don't feel the trust right now.

Posted by Abdominal Snowman 2007-06-17 23:21|| 2007-06-17 23:21|| Front Page Top

23:56 Zenster
23:55 Bright Pebbles
23:55 Zenster
23:47 Mike N.
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23:21 Abdominal Snowman
22:54 Albemarle Cleaque8456
22:54 Mike N.
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22:26 Natural Law