# China, poison, again! (RO? Maybe...) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 28, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793 "2007-05-28T16:26:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spezza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/21 "2007-06-02T00:52:36Z")
[QUOTE=Kimstu] It’s all about taking chances and cutting corners to save money. AFAICT, there is no more concern shown for the safety of manufactured products for domestic use than for exported ones. [/QUOTE] Exactly! United States companies do this corner cutting as much as anybody else. Sure American and European companies have more stringent standards to uphold; neverthless, they cut heedlessly wherever they can. For anybody who actually believes this is a conspiracy. “This just in, Proven links that connect Saddam with Weapons of Mass Destruction, al-Queda, and 9-11.” ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/22 "2007-06-02T03:51:04Z")
This is libertarian paradise. No rules, no ecology no FDA ,just the relentless pursuit for profit. The wild west days of capitalism are alive and well.; It may kill or poison a few people but it will according to the Libertarians eventually sort itself out. Total power to the corporations. What could be better than that. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/23 "2007-06-02T03:56:30Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] This is libertarian paradise. No rules, no ecology no FDA ,just the relentless pursuit for profit. The wild west days of capitalism are alive and well.; It may kill or poison a few people but it will according to the Libertarians eventually sort itself out. Total power to the corporations. What could be better than that. [/QUOTE] _shudder_ I think you are trying to be humorous, and maybe I am just humor impaired today. I couldn’t laugh at this. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/24 "2007-06-02T04:07:58Z")
[QUOTE=Mighty\_Girl] This has been a big story here too, where some company illegally brought the toothpaste into the country and there’s a massive recall going on. [/QUOTE] Last year tainted medicines containing diethylene glycol that were ultimately of Chinese origin caused between 50 and 100 deaths in Panama. Incredibly enough, not long ago they found toothpaste here contaminated with the same chemical. > **[Two types of Panama toothpaste contain deadly chemical](https://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/91340-deadly_toothpaste/)** > > Two types of Panama toothpaste contain deadly chemicalHealth authorities ordered two types of toothpaste pulled from shelves for they contain a chemical tha... > [@](#): > > Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said this week that an investigation into the source of the deadly medicine found that the Chinese company that sold it was authorized to sell only chemicals for industrial use. > > The contaminated medicine was in cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion and rash ointment made in a Panama government laboratory. > > The New York Times newspaper said in an investigative report published Sunday that China’s Taixing Glycerine Factory made the diethylene glycol and fraudulently passed it off as 99.5 percent pure glycerin to a Spanish company, Rasfer International, which in turn sold it to Panama’s Medicom SA. Medicom then sold it to a government laboratory. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/25 "2007-06-02T04:35:18Z")
May 30: One Step Forward [Ex-official gets death for graft](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-05/30/content_882994.htm) > [@](#): > > The former top food and drug regulator was sentenced to death yesterday for taking bribes - amid government efforts to fight corruption and rebuild confidence in the safety of food and drugs. > > Zheng Xiaoyu, 63, former director of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), was convicted of taking bribes in cash and gifts worth more than 6.49 million yuan ($850,000) as well as dereliction of duty, according to the first instance hearing of the Beijing Municipal No 1 Intermediate People’s Court. May 31: Two steps Back [Chinese agency blames Panamanian businesses for deadly tainted medicine](http://www.pr-inside.com/chinese-agency-blames-panamanian-businesses-r139772.htm) > [@](#): > > Businesses in Panama, not China were «mainly responsible» for passing off an industrial chemical as a medical ingredient leading to the deaths of at least 51 people, a senior official in China’s product-inspection agency said Thursday. > > Wei Chuanzhong, vice minister of the Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said Chinese > companies sold the industrial solvent called ‘TD glycerin’, to Spanish companies who then sold it to Panamanian companies. > … > Wei also dismissed concerns about exported Chinese toothpaste made with diethylene glycol, a chemical cousin of antifreeze and the same substance that caused the deaths in Panama. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/26 "2007-06-02T04:47:20Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] Ack! :smack: Did anyone get sick from it, **Monty**? [/QUOTE] I don’t think so; however, [here](http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/GK22Cb05.html) is one report on the issue. It could have been much worse–and still could be. The linked article refers to the low compliance with basic sanitary procedures (that, of course, means the “peasants” (the article’s word, not mine) hired aren’t too familiar with the concept of washing their hands after defecating). So, the flap was about parasite eggs but it’s not a stretch to conclude that our old buddy _e. coli_ won’t be absent from the imported foodstuffs. The ironic part about the whole thing is the factories to blame for the contaminated product were Korean-run. The Chinese-run factories went for quality whereas the Korean-run ones went for cheap labor and cheap cabbage. And, if possible, even more ironic is that the “let’s make it at home” drive died quickly because so few people here even know how to make the stuff anymore! ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/27 "2007-06-02T05:29:52Z")
Maybe a conspiracy, but not by the Chinese government. What would be the point? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/28 "2007-06-02T18:18:37Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] Last year tainted medicines containing diethylene glycol that were ultimately of Chinese origin caused between 50 and 100 deaths in Panama. Incredibly enough, not long ago they found toothpaste here contaminated with the same chemical. > **[Two types of Panama toothpaste contain deadly chemical](https://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/91340-deadly_toothpaste/)** > > Two types of Panama toothpaste contain deadly chemicalHealth authorities ordered two types of toothpaste pulled from shelves for they contain a chemical tha... [/QUOTE] The toothpaste was brought here from Panama. Or more accurately, it was smuggled in. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/29 "2007-06-02T18:48:15Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] Maybe a conspiracy, but not by the Chinese government. What would be the point? [/QUOTE] Not a conspiracy, as I said in post three, their disregard for the health and safety of not only their people, but the citizens of other countries (so long as the money rolls in) is deliberate. Not only the companies making the products, but the Government of China as well, because they haven’t put more strict standards in place. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2007, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/30 "2007-06-03T13:22:26Z")
I do not think it is deliberate. I think it is incidental. In the pursuit of money they will take every chance the system allows. If their system is even watchdogging less that ours, “accidents” will happen. They have less protections in place than we do. They import all over. It is not just the pet food poisoning . There will be more. If profits are high ,all will be forgiven. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2007, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/31 "2007-06-03T14:17:44Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] There will be more. [/QUOTE] There _are_ more: [China asks U.S. to clarify food regulations after catfish ban](http://www.picayuneitem.com/local/local_story_146190036.html) ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/32 "2007-06-04T03:37:52Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] I do not think it is deliberate. I think it is incidental. In the pursuit of money they will take every chance the system allows. \ [/QUOTE] I think their indifference is deliberate, because it makes a profit, as you say. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/33 "2007-06-05T15:37:49Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] The ironic part about the whole thing is the factories to blame for the contaminated product were Korean-run. The Chinese-run factories went for quality whereas the Korean-run ones went for cheap labor and cheap cabbage. And, if possible, even more ironic is that the “let’s make it at home” drive died quickly because so few people here even know how to make the stuff anymore! [/QUOTE] This rang a bell because I read about it in The Economist. I have no idea how accurate this Xinhua-sourced [article](http://english.people.com.cn/200511/03/eng20051103_218789.html) is, but it seems that once they really started looking, they found poop-sourced contamination all over the place. Which isn’t really that surprising, I guess, if the cabbages are grown in ground pooped on by various animals. It’s interesting to compare what’s going on in china with some of the stuff that went on in the US and Europe before the advent of modern regulations. Victorian housekeeping manuals had sections on “Adulteration” that would tell you how to check if there was white lead or sawdust in the bread, copper salts in the pickles, and so forth and so on. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/34 "2007-06-05T16:35:02Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] And, if possible, even more ironic is that the “let’s make it at home” drive died quickly because so few people here even know how to make the stuff anymore! [/QUOTE] And their neighbors said, “Hallelujah!” The stuff’s yummy but I wouldn’t want to be within a block of it’s preparation. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/35 "2007-06-05T20:36:41Z")
[Turns out the Chinese _aren’t_ the only ones who like adding melamine to feed stocks.](http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070603/NEWS08/706030332) > [@](#): > > A central Toledo plant being investigated for using an ingredient similar to a pet-food contaminant blamed for dog and cat deaths nationwide this spring was not licensed with the Ohio Department of Agriculture, a requirement of all companies involved in feedstock production, officials said. > > Tembec BTLSR Inc., 2112 Sylvan Ave., used melamine, which is not approved for livestock feed, to bind feed granules in pellets from 2004 until last month. > > The company, owned by Tembec Inc. of Montreal, sold its binding agent to Uniscope Inc., of Johnstown, Colo., which used it to make feed products for fish and shrimp, and for cattle, sheep, and goats. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/36 "2007-06-05T21:16:24Z")
[QUOTE=adam yax] China does not like **corruption** , or things that threaten their economy. [/QUOTE] (Bolding mine) I would amend that to read “patently obvious corruption that can’t be swept under the rug”. Corruption is the norm and is expected. My brother-in-law is a building inspector in China, making sure new construction complies with what minimal safety standards are in place. His wife was complaining that he’s usually not home for dinner, because he gets taken out and wined and dined by developers most evenings. One of his co-workers was killed when the building he was inspecting collapsed during the inspection, despite “passing” all previous inspections with flying colors. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/37 "2007-06-06T07:20:01Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] [Turns out the Chinese _aren’t_ the only ones who like adding melamine to feed stocks.](http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070603/NEWS08/706030332) [/QUOTE] Yeah, but if this was China, the government would start by saying that there was no adulteration, that the company didn’t make feedstock anyway, and in any case the press was just discriminating against Canadians. Then, if it hurt trade, they’d execute the CEO. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/38 "2007-06-06T07:32:39Z")
I’d love the see GWB slap the old Embargo on China. 😃 They’d go down sooooo fast. Of course, we’d have to wear that same old T-shirt for a while. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793/39 "2007-06-06T07:42:30Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Then, if it hurt trade, they’d execute the CEO. [/QUOTE] I’m not seeing a problem with this part. Bet the next Ken Lay would be a bit more hesitant about looting a company if they knew they could get shot if they screwed up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-poison-again-ro-maybe/405793.md?page=1)