# The Chinese are trying to kill us **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 26, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467 "2007-06-26T14:03:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/1 "2007-06-26T14:03:02Z")
Ok not really [http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/26/news/international/tire\_recall.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes](http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/26/news/international/tire_recall.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes) WTF? Now tires are being recalled too. Actually I’m sort of surprised this hasn’t happened more often in the past or it could be that because I’m young I just don’t know about it. Have there been a lot of other incidences with Chinese products in the not too-distant past like with the recent tires, toothpaste, and pet food? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/2 "2007-06-26T18:32:34Z")
Us? How do you know some Dopers are not Chinese themselves? Sigh, a bit insensitive… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/3 "2007-06-26T18:37:50Z")
That’s not “the Chinese”; it’s bog-standard corporate lack of quality control. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/4 "2007-06-26T18:40:26Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] That’s not “the Chinese”; it’s bog-standard corporate lack of quality control. [/QUOTE] …fueled by Western companies wanting to produce their products at as low a cost as possible, and outsourcing their labour to China and third-world countries where people can be coerced into working in dangerously unsafe conditions for a handful of pennies an hour. ---
**Author:** ![DustyButt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc348/32.png) [@DustyButt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DustyButt)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/5 "2007-06-26T18:47:23Z")
Didn’t Chinese manufactured cars garnish a 1-star crash rating. I don’t think their attempts to kill and maim are directed towards “Us” in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/6 "2007-06-26T19:12:22Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] …fueled by Western companies wanting to produce their products at as low a cost as possible, and outsourcing their labour to China and third-world countries where people can be coerced into working in dangerously unsafe conditions for a handful of pennies an hour. [/QUOTE] That’s what I said. Besides, I think our corporate overlords have sufficiently divorced themselves from place that they can no longer be considered exclusively Western… ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/7 "2007-06-26T19:29:11Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] That’s what I said. [/QUOTE] Nope. Lack of quality control does not necessarily imply intentionally causing poor quality to cut production costs. But I agree with you about the corporate overlords not always being Western… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/8 "2007-06-26T19:47:21Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Nope. Lack of quality control does not necessarily imply intentionally causing poor quality to cut production costs. [/quote] True. > [@Kythereia](#): > > But I agree with you about the corporate overlords not always being Western… More precisely, they have separated themselves culturally from the West and would rule it as they would everywhere else. I saw this little thing in the Star today or yesterday talking about the ultra-rich and saying that they live a separate life vrom the rest of us: separate transportation system, culture, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/9 "2007-06-28T23:50:33Z")
Not over with yet: [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287210,00.html](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287210,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/10 "2007-06-29T00:24:38Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] …fueled by Western companies wanting to produce their products at as low a cost as possible, and outsourcing their labour to China and third-world countries where people can be coerced into working in dangerously unsafe conditions for a handful of pennies an hour. [/QUOTE] … mandated by laws requiring publicly-traded companies to maximize investor profits. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/11 "2007-06-29T11:56:24Z")
[QUOTE=DustyButt] Didn’t Chinese manufactured cars garnish a 1-star crash rating. I don’t think their attempts to kill and maim are directed towards “Us” in particular. [/QUOTE] I don’t know about crashworthiness, but a Chinese automaker brought a car to the Detroit Auto Show last year. A couple reporters got a chance to look at it (it wasn’t shown to the public) and from what I’ve read the quality was stunningly bad. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/12 "2007-06-29T12:11:55Z")
I hear they put pee-pee in your Coke. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/13 "2007-07-04T03:23:19Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] I don’t know about crashworthiness, but a Chinese automaker brought a car to the Detroit Auto Show last year. A couple reporters got a chance to look at it (it wasn’t shown to the public) and from what I’ve read the quality was stunningly bad. [/QUOTE] What did you read? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/14 "2007-07-04T11:33:20Z")
My wife watches Filipino news shows. Apparently they are getting a lot of tainted fish and other foods from China. So I guess they’re trying to kill everybody. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/15 "2007-07-04T11:35:38Z")
There have been tainted products and product recalls for years. When the manufacturing base was in the US, did the US go “OMG we’re trying to commit suicide!?” Now that the west exports most of its manufacturing, and coupling that with poor standards of QA, this is not surprising. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/16 "2007-07-06T15:52:31Z")
Tainted medicine from Panama kills 94 people, 293 more deaths under investigation. [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288125,00.html](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288125,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/17 "2007-07-06T15:55:28Z")
U.S. recalls 3 toys made in China, one of which could have caused lead poisoning. [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288372,00.html](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288372,00.html) So what do we have so far: Tires Toys Toothpaste Cold Medicine Fish Anything else? ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/18 "2007-07-06T16:06:28Z")
[QUOTE=pool] Anything else? [/QUOTE] Now they’re attacking with artillery: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070500924.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070500924.html) The same model of Chinese-made mortar packs malfunctioned at 6 fireworks shows in the DC area this 4th. 11 injuries, two of which are serious. Incidentally, that woman who blew her head off also did that with a 5x5 pack of 3-inch mortars. It was reportedly because of her own folly, and I haven’t heard anything to suggest it was the same model though. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/19 "2007-07-06T16:15:31Z")
Damnit! I mean hell they invented fireworks. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-chinese-are-trying-to-kill-us/409467/20 "2007-07-06T16:32:29Z")
[QUOTE=Mahaloth] What did you read? 😕 [/QUOTE] Not much more than that, really. It was just a short article in the newspaper. Apparently, the car had loose knobs and other signs of shoddy workmanship which left the reporters (or at least, the guy who wrote the article) rather underwhelmed. Frankly, I was reminded of the stories you used to hear about Yugos.