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For days now I’ve been seeing the crawl on CNN mention contaminated Chinese-made children’s toothpaste in Costa Rica, although they never mentioned the brand name (the article below only says Panama). Then I saw the following article this morning. One of the things that upset me at the feria in San Ramon was when I went to buy garlic and it said it was a product of China. What the h*l*?? I don’t want garlic from China; who the heck knows what they put on it given their lack of regulation governing contaminants in food, pet food, and now toothpaste. At least they punished the head of the supposed regulatory agency. We should do the same with the heads of the FDA. They allow 100,000 people a year to die from taking “approved” medications!
China sentences ex-top drug regulator to death
AUDRA ANGAssociated Press
May 29, 2007 at 3:32 AM EDT
BEIJING — China’s former top drug regulator was sentenced to death
Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicines, as the
country’s main quality control agency announced its first recall
system for unsafe food products.The developments are among the most dramatic steps Beijing has
publicly taken to address domestic and international alarm over
shoddy and unsafe Chinese goods — from pet food ingredients and
toothpaste mixed with industrial chemicals to tainted antibiotics.The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court convicted Zheng Xiaoyu
of taking bribes in cash and gifts worth more than $832,000 (U.S.)
when he was director of the State Food and Drug Administration, the
official Xinhua News Agency said. The court then issued the death
penalty, the report said.A woman who answered the telephone at the court’s duty office
confirmed the report, but declined to give additional details.An undated file photo shows Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of China’s
food and drug administration, who was sentenced to death by a court
in Beijing on Tuesday. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)In its noon newscast, state television showed a grey-haired Mr. Zheng
flanked by court police, who handcuffed him while the verdict was
being read.Mr. Zheng had 23 years of experience manufacturing pharmaceuticals in
the eastern city of Hangzhou before being appointed head of the drug
administration when it was created in 1998, Central China Television
said in its report. He ran it until he was fired in 2005.Mr. Zheng saw his power increase substantially in 2002 when the
government required all drugs be approved by the agency. The change
resulted in a massive backlog, giving companies a strong incentive to
find ways to expedite approvals.In one instance, an antibiotic approved by Mr. Zheng’s agency killed
at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market.Also Tuesday, an official from the General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the new recall system
will be part of a regulation crafted by the agency and will be
implemented by the end of the year.“All domestic and foreign food producers and distributors will be
obliged to follow the system,” Wu Jianping, director general of the
administration’s food production and supervision department, was
quoted as saying by the state-run China Daily newspaper.The recall system will be put in place gradually and will focus
on “potentially dangerous and unapproved food products,” the report
said.The report did not provide further details and the inspection agency
refused to comment.Current regulations on product inspection, issued in 2002, mention
the need for a food recall system, the China Daily said, but the
issue has not been systematically addressed.Concern over Chinese exports has been increasing as more instances of
poor hygiene and use of banned substances are uncovered.Pet food ingredients, spiked with the chemical melamine and related
compounds, have been blamed in the deaths of dogs and cats in North
America. The U.S. government has stopped all imports of Chinese
toothpaste after reports that some products sold in Australia, the
Dominican Republic and Panama were tainted with diethylene glycol, a
chemical commonly used in antifreeze and brake fluid.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also warned consumers not to
buy or eat imported fish from China labelled as monkfish because it
might actually be pufferfish, which contains a potentially deadly
toxin called tetrodotoxin.The warning came days after three southern U.S. states banned imports
of catfish from China because they contained traces of antibiotics
the FDA says have never been approved for use in aquaculture.The China Daily also said the State Food and Drug Administration, Mr.
Zheng’s agency, plans to blacklist food producers who break rules.The administration launched a nationwide campaign of drug safety
inspections on Monday in which it will send 90 officials to 15
provinces over the next two weeks, the newspaper said.Chinese leaders have also been battling a dismal food-safety record
within the country. China’s Health Ministry reported almost 34,000
food-related illnesses in 2005, with spoiled food accounting for the
largest number.According to Outlook Weekly, a magazine published by the Chinese
government’s news agency, a survey by the quality inspection
administration found that a third of China’s 450,000 food production
companies had no licenses.Also, 60 per cent of the total did not conduct safety tests or have
the capability to do so, the survey found.So you’re saying that a ‘death sentence’ might act as an incentive to encourage people to do the right thing?
I find it fascinating how most people get all upset when they talk about how barbaric the ‘death sentence’ is as a punishment yet we knowingly ‘sentence’ millions of innocent people to horrible deaths every year with the legal drugs that you are so knowledgeable about as well as our laughable efforts to promote ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ through the world..
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comThere has to be some incentive for the FDA to keep an eye on big Pharma, but as it is now, it’s a case of the fox guarding the henhouse. Maybe death is too drastic, but what about the thousands of people who die every year from faulty drugs that the FDA approved and which Big Pharma knew were deadly? They are only guilty of trusting the regulatory agency that is supposed to protect the public, not allow BP to run amok with all sorts of rotten drugs. What about all the cats and dogs that died because the FDA doesn’t do its job of monitoring our food supply. What about all the humans who died for the same reasons. and yet, the FDA operates with impunity, murdering people every day without any consequence at all. I wonder how many other chinese food products are in the chain in Costa Rica. I guess I will have to grow my own garlic cuz i sure ain’t eating anything from china.
It is truly amazing how there is no outcry from our elected officials here in the US about these foodstuffs and other tainted products coming in from China. When it happened in Panama, the only thing printed was in the international media. Pet food, and now toothpaste, are responsible for killing pets and people, but the media and politicians are treating it like it was a natural event, like an outbreak of the flu.
Most favored nation status review, or any sanctions against China are not even mentioned. It might be time to put health concerns ahead of dollars. But I don’t think that is going to happen.
Scott, just to comment on our laughable efforts to promote freedom and democracy all over the world, look at all the other efforts that have gone on to promote socialism and communism. Both, for the most part, have failed. Why that is, is because it is not natural, normal, and incongruous to have someone else’s opinion of what is “right” rammed down your throat at the point of a gun. The only time it was a good thing was when in W.W.II, the US and its allies were in Europe, as liberators, delivering an invaded people from the Nazis. Then, for the most part, leaving the individual countries alone to reestablish their respective governments. But there is something inherent in any system of government, that thinks they have the only right answer and makes them want to export it… I still can’t figure out what that is.Edited on May 30, 2007 06:19
Wal-Mart is a big importer of Chinese food products, including some organic produce (is IF China cares what kind of pesticides they use on our food! UGH). Thankfully, that’s not where I shop, but for our FDA to allow these unregulated, and contaminated, food products to slip into our food chain is unconscionable. But then the FDA is a completely worthless entity, almost entirely beholding to the pharmaceutical industry. To hell with the consumer! There is the potential for any packaged food to be contaminated with these substances, given the amount of processed ingredients that go into them. Because capitalism requires the least cost in production to maximize profit, you can bet that China will be supplying a lot of ingredients. I wonder how this will all play out now that Wal-Mart bought up the grocery store chains in Costa Rica? It does make me wonder what fresh foods, if any besides Chinese garlic, have penetrated the Costa Rican food supply. I guess I’d better get my garden started when I come down next month. The only safe food will be what we grow ourselves.
Today, in Inside Costa Rica, it was reported 3 tons of the toothpaste entered the country illegally and was confiscated. The now infamous chemical, Diethylene glycol, has been used in other products by other nations, including cough syrup and wine. What form of people would use a proven toxic substance in anything made for human consumption? It boggles the mind to think there are companies that are willing to put profit ahead of anything, while knowing sooner or later they will be caught. This is insanity at its most twisted. And where are the lawsuits against these companies or their governmental health agencies? This goes against all logic and reason.
Maravilla, I’m afraid, is right about large retailers dealing with these companies. When will we ever learn? Perhaps never. I guess growing your own food is the way to go. Just be sure of what you fertilize it with.The regulatory agencies are as corrupt as the people who would put such a poison in anything that is made for human or animal consumption. A friend of mine in Costa Rica had a young dog that suddenly became very ill. The vet was puzzled by its symptoms, and after numerous tests concluded nothing except that maybe the illness was attributable to parasites. Daily infusions of antibiotics and other meds yielded no good results and the vet suggested that the dog be put down to spare it anymore misery. That same day I saw the contaminated pet food article on AOL and looked at the list of symptoms my friend’s dog exhibited. They were exactly the symptoms diplayed by animals who had consumed contaminated pet food. My friend and her husband were distraught, not only from losing their pet, but from having to see it suffer so. But lo and behold, three weeks later the vet called and said the woman could come and pick up her dog, who was still weak but miraculously alive. Seems the vet decided to make this sick dog his cause celebre and was going to save it at all costs. Imagine the shock to my friends? There is no other explanation for the sick animal besides pet food contamination. Pet food that was purchased in Costa Rica. Thankfully, I brought organic dry food with me for our dog, but mostly he eats human food that I prepare. So three tons of toothpaste (how many tubes is THAT?) doesn’t surprise me, and I will bet there are other foods that are contaminated in Costa Rica as well. I just packed 50 packages of seeds for my garden in Costa Rica, and I intend to hire the organic gardeners at Villa Blanca to help me find good resources for organic mulch and fertilizer. The e.coli spinach scare last year was awful enough — especially since I had purchased one of the brands that was recalled. For 15 years I’ve been saying that eventually the only safe food source will be what we grow ourselves, and I guess now is the time to get that garden going so I know what went into growing my produce. Trust any government to protect me??? Nah!
Yesterday, in Inside CR, they said Tilapia imported from China was tainted with a deadly neurotoxin found in puffer fish. And we continue to buy, without any mention of halting trade until we can be certain of the quality of what we are getting. Will we ever get it?
We’ll never get it, Alfred. Speaking of Tainted Tilapia, at my local supermarket the other day I looked at the “origin” labels of all the fish and seafood they were selling: China, Tahiti, Vietnam, Chile,Ecuador, and almost all of it was farm-raised. This girl ain’t ever eating anything that’s been farmed because of what they feed those fish, and then we have the “color added” issue. I don’t want to eat anything that has color added yet people buy up that Atlantic farm-raised color added salmon like it’s going out of style. I’m relegated to eating wild salmon, halibut, and cod. Wouldn’t touch a farm-raised shrimp either — and you’ve just confirmed my nagging suspicions about why I have a visceral aversion to this kind of food, which brings us back to the regulatory agencies? What are they doing to protect us? The answer is patently obvious: NOTHING!
Maravilla, You are correct in that the regulatory bodies are nowhere to be found. Also my wife and I just came back from shopping and the amount of foreign farm raised seafood is growing. We cannot depend on anyone to protect our life and health anymore. We must be responsible for ourselves.
If you’ve noticed in recent days, all the focus has been on TB-man, the guy who rode planes and has Tuberculosis. He has a form that is not readily communicable. The chances of someone contracting this and dying is supposedly small, but this is the only story topping the news. Not that I would have wished to have been on a plane with him. All the focus is on this guy and none on the Chinese products which have already killed hundreds.
I can just see the lawyers lining up for the lawsuits against TB-man. I guess there may be no money in trying to sue a foreign government.The sharks are circling the body, trying to figure out where they can take the biggest bite — the laywer or the airlines, or the CDC. Who has the deepest pockets is what this fight is going to be about. Shopping in a regular supermarket is a scary experience. I do most of my food shopping in a large healthfood store, and I only buy organic anything, and any meat I buy comes from a small local ranch. Driving back from Omaha we saw those disgusting feed lots with all those cattle standing around in slop and mud, waiting to go to slaughter, with a stench that went on for miles — and it didn’t even smell like cow dung; it smelled sour, the worst smell I’ve ever experienced. And this is what most people eat when it comes to beef. We excavated a large plot for my garden in Costa Rica which we are going to wall in and I plan to grow almost everything that I eat in the way of vegetables and herbs. Between the creepy seafood infected and raised on who knows what, I’m seriously thinking about becoming a true vegetarian. I’d been buying that fabulous trout they have in Costa Rica and then it dawned on me that it is probably farm-raised, so what’s left to eat there in the way of fish? Hope that someone has some fresh-caught snapper at the feria on Fridays?
Did anyone think that it was strange that, the TB guys father-in-law is a Micro-biologist, working for the CDC, and TB is what he works on? Coincidence?
Yes, that is true, that the FIL works for the CDC as a TB expert; however, he is not infected with TB, nor did he infect his SIL with TB, so we can stop thinking about conspiracies, although when I heard what the FIL did for a living, it was a thought that crossed my mind, but it’s been ruled out. They now think Andrew Speaker may have contracted TB either in Peru or Vietnam.
Seems like TB-man will be off the front page for a bit. We have a few new home grown terrorists planning to blow up the gas tanks at JFK international airport in New York. Can’t believe that’s two plots foiled by Homeland security in about a week, but TB-man was allowed to fly even though he was on the no-fly list. Hhhmmmm.
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