Even More Chinese Ingredient Problems

wff_ng_7 said:

As if the melamine thing wasn't enough, there's yet another major case
of adulterated ingredients coming from China, and in this case it has
killed hundreds of people (albeit not in the USA). So far the problem
has been confined to drug products, but the ingredient is also widely
used in food: glycerine. Instead of glycerine, a Chinese company has
been supplying dyethelene glycol, a chemical commonly used for
antifreeze. It is very toxic.

The NY Times just put a story about tracing the poison on their web site
at the following address:
http://tinyurl.com/2q7mv4

Yesterday, I came across the following press release from the FDA
warning manufacturers about the same problem:
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01628.html

It's perhaps ironic that one of the events that was instrumental in
granting FDA authority to control foods and drugs was a mass poisoning
with dyethelene glycol in 1937 where over 100 people died.

These two episodes, involving melamine and now dyethelene glycol, really
make me wonder about the value system in China and whether any food
product from there can be trusted. Knowing that the federal government
is incapable of protecting the public, it becomes very important for the
consumer to know the origins of foods and drugs and all their
ingredients. But many would block country of origin labeling because it
would be "bad for business".

Just to add... there's also the catfish from China contaminated with
banned antibiotics, but hey, no one has died from that yet! ;-)

It won't end until the Chinese government decides to prosecute one of
the counterfeit drug makers -- and executes the top executives and
bulldozes the factory to make an example. (and I think that's exactly
how the Chinese govt does things, it just doesn't do it very often)

Here's an interesting article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/05/news/06poison.php?page=1

Bob

zxcvbob said:

wff_ng_7 said:

As if the melamine thing wasn't enough, there's yet another major case of
adulterated ingredients coming from China, and in this case it has killed
hundreds of people (albeit not in the USA). So far the problem has been
confined to drug products, but the ingredient is also widely used in food:
glycerine. Instead of glycerine, a Chinese company has been supplying
dyethelene glycol, a chemical commonly used for antifreeze. It is very toxic.

The NY Times just put a story about tracing the poison on their web site at
the following address:
http://tinyurl.com/2q7mv4

....

Quoted message said:

Here's an interesting article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/05/news/06poison.php?page=1

Amazing, it looks identical to the NY Times article I mentioned. In fact, it is
identical. The International Herald Tribune is a NY Times company! ;-)

Getting back to your point...

Quoted message said:

It won't end until the Chinese government decides to prosecute one of the
counterfeit drug makers -- and executes the top executives and bulldozes the
factory to make an example. (and I think that's exactly how the Chinese govt
does things, it just doesn't do it very often)

I suspect the Chinese government isn't going to do anything until they see their
export markets close, either because other governments ban their goods or
because consumers turn away from them. Apparently having hundreds of people die
in China is not a particularly important problem. After all, they've got over a
billion of them, so who cares if you lose a few hundred... or even a few
thousand? Who would notice?

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

I found the web site for the Chinese glycerine manufacturer mentioned in the NY
Times article:

http://www.chinachemnet.com/chinataixin/index.htm

Would you buy food products from this company? Looks like something was lost in
the translation.

There's also a great video on the NY Times web site about the glycerine
poisoning. The damage done to one victim is absolutely horrible, but he was one
of the lucky ones. He survived. Here's a link to the video:

http://tinyurl.com/33bryf

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

wff_ng_7 said:

I found the web site for the Chinese glycerine manufacturer mentioned in the NY
Times article:

http://www.chinachemnet.com/chinataixin/index.htm

Would you buy food products from this company? Looks like something was lost in
the translation.

There's also a great video on the NY Times web site about the glycerine
poisoning. The damage done to one victim is absolutely horrible, but he was one
of the lucky ones. He survived. Here's a link to the video:

http://tinyurl.com/33bryf

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

Thanks for the link.
Dee Dee