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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China: more problems with dangerous foods and pharmaceuticals |
| 2007-06-12 |
| Chinese authorities have struggled with recalls after the widespread sale of fake polio vaccines, vitamins and baby formula. China, which has an across-the-board problem with food and drug safety, has come under growing pressure from the United States and the European Union to improve inspections of exports. Last month, the country's former top drug regulator was sentenced to death for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths. China said yesterday it was investigating the sale of fake blood protein, a potentially dangerous and widespread practice that underscores the country's problems with product safety. State media reported one death from use of the counterfeits. A shortage of albumin, a blood protein that chronically ill people often lack, triggered a nationwide investigation in March into whether fakes were being sold, China Central Television said. The report centered on an inquiry in the northeastern province of Jilin, where 59 hospitals and pharmacies were sold more than 2,000 bottles of counterfeit blood protein. It did not say what the products were made of, but said they could "make a patient's condition worsen and could cause death." Seven out of 36 batches of albumin tested by the Jilin Food and Drug Research Institute were found to be bogus, CCTV quoted the institute's deputy director, Xu Fei, as saying. "There was no element of protein, so it could not perform its intended function," Mr. Xu said. "They were through-and-through fakes." The China Business News said yesterday the State Food and Drug Administration had seized fake blood protein from other provinces and regions including Shanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Ningxia, Qinghai and Chongqing. Albumin is a primary protein in human plasma that is important in maintaining blood volume. It is used to treat conditions including shock, burns, liver failure and pancreatitis, and is needed by patients undergoing heart surgery. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #7 PIMF, darn it! I forgot to close the HTML thingy that italicized the word "Western", which really reduces the effectiveness of the attempted emphasis. Anyway, to follow up on that last, Alaska Paul, I do think the FDA and other regulatory agencies should indeed get involved as a matter of principal, but I think natural market forces will erase most of the problem... which will lead to a cascade of problems for China, but that's part of the whole "learning from consequences" thingy that's so salutory, in a very painful way. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-06-12 23:44 |
| #6 I honestly think government banning won't be much needed, Aalska Paul, because American and European companies so jealously guard their reputations for quality that they'll soon discontinue purchasing from any Chinese company incapable -- for whatever reason -- of consistently delivering exactly what was contracted for. I know of Western suppliers cut off for delivering materials slightly out of spec, and I know the big pet food manufacturers were livid about the contaminated ingredient that sickened and killed cats and dogs not long ago. I'd bet big bucks, were I betting woman, that by the time the FDA and whoever else start to move on this, most of the affected trade with China will have been shut down by the purchasers. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-06-12 23:39 |
| #5 The solution to fake and dangerous food and drug products from the PRC is to ban them. THAT will get their attention. They have violated a sacred trust, so they get shut out of the action. If they want to retailate, great. That would be the US govt protecting its citizens. If the PRC tries to go around the ban by transshipping to other countries, we cut them out, too. There has to be a price for this kind of dealing. If the Chicoms want to do it to their own people, that is their cullllllllllltural thing. Just not with us. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-06-12 23:07 |
| #4 You're analyzing above my pay grade, Zenster. ;-) I really don't understand politics any more than I do money. But I've seen from the inside how Fortune 500 consumer companies respond to inadvertently killing customers, and in my limited understanding it seems to me that convulsive response will trump any honest long term sweep-of-history -- or dishonest $$$-in-an-envelope -- political and bureaucratic refusal to change the status quo. The key, as I see it, is the cascade of revelations about deadly products and ingredients coming out of China's manufacturies. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-06-12 22:45 |
| #3 Thank you very much for the contribution, trailing wife. I'm glad to see that others are following China's low level industrial jihad against America. While Beijing's shenanigans are no doubt worrisome, I feel that this issue brings forward a much more serious concern; Namely, that of a serious conflict of interest within our own government. I continue to maintain that the Bush administration's reluctance to prosecute China over these repeated and numerous trade violations stems from how the republican party's campaign contributor base derives a substantial portion of its revenue from resale of cheap Chinese merchandise to America's consumers. Make no mistake that a sufficient number of democrat pols feed at Uncle's Mao's all-you-can-eat cheap labor trough, too. However, it is this administration which has seen the spectaular rise in both our Sino-American trade deficit and a massive upswing in defective, tainted and just plain dangerous Chinese goods being imported into the USA. When this is combined with Beijing's persistent triangulation against American interests in the Middle East, Taiwan and on the Korean peninsula there emerges a much more serious issue of the Bush administration facilitating—or at least maintaining a policy of benign neglect—with respect to the serious threat posed by communist China. A more key issue is that of our government in general. Current lack of enthusiasm on the part of our politicians regarding the COOL (Country Of Origin Labeling), foodstuff labeling finds some pretty strong parallels in the immigration bill and its deleterious effects upon America's lawful citizens. There seems to be a pervasive give-a-shit attitude towards the American electorate by its government. This elitist mentality needs to be rewarded with a profound drubbing at the polls. Sadly, right now the democrats—all by themselves—pose such a threat to America's security and future that republican pecadillos must almost be overlooked in light of the need to exclude liberal politics from Washington's decision-making path. This is entirely unsatisfactory as a garbled message—at best—will be sent by such inaction. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-06-12 20:32 |
| #2 I thought you'd appreciate this properly, Zenster dear. But if China doesn't improve internal controls, and it seems to me that it'll be at least a generation before the society is capable of enforcing honesty like that, the EU and the US at least will have to test all products coming from there because our citizenry will not accept being killed by bad product. Look at the way American pet food manufacturers responded to a contaminated raw material in pet food, for goodness sake! If the governments don't inspect and certify, the manufacturers and distributors certainly will -- when people die, companies can go under. Remember that toxic shock scare back in the 1980's? The manufacturer ended up shutting down the entire line and got out of the business altogether, even though the only death was due to an idiot girl who'd left the tampon in for literally days (seriously ick!), and not because the product was at fault. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-06-12 18:39 |
| #1 The report centered on an inquiry in the northeastern province of Jilin, where 59 hospitals and pharmacies were sold more than 2,000 bottles of counterfeit blood protein. It did not say what the products were made of, but said they could "make a patient's condition worsen and could cause death." Seven out of 36 batches of albumin tested by the Jilin Food and Drug Research Institute were found to be bogus, CCTV quoted the institute's deputy director, Xu Fei, as saying. "There was no element of protein, so it could not perform its intended function," Mr. Xu said. "They were through-and-through fakes." So, "more than 2,000 bottles" of totally fake, not diluted, but fake blood protein is churned out by someone who knows that this can KILL a patient who requires stabilization. How big were those "seven out of 36 batches" that tested negative? I wonder what the real numbers involved actually are. Are we allowing China to ship us ANY medical products? Does our government give a damn? Rest assured of one thing, this is only the iceberg's tip. Meanwhile, food industry representatives are battling to defeat COOL (Country Of Origin Labeling) for food products sold in America. J Patrick Boyle, president and chief executive officer of the AMI, and letter author, said that it was well known that all imported meat and poultry products are subject to re-inspection and every box of product is recorded and accounted for by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Your government tax dollars NOT at work. Expect a firestorm to begin brewing over this blatant disregard for the public's health and safety. If this system has worked for seafood (read: dolphin safe tuna and other environmentalist pet projects), then there is no reason that it cannot be implemented on a wider scale. If anything, an excise tax upon Chinese imports, pending China upgrading its inspection system to proper complaince levels, should be used to fund the entire project. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-06-12 15:38 |