China Defends Use of Chemical in Toothpaste

[ocelot]

China defends use of chemical in toothpaste

Last Updated: Monday, June 4, 2007 | 4:15 PM ET
CBC News
Chinese officials maintain that toothpaste containing diethylene glycol is safe to use, saying that a U.S. advisory urging consumers not to use Chinese-made toothpaste was "unscientific."

China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said Saturday on its website that diethylene glycol — used to make antifreeze — does not pose a health risk.

Chinese officials said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had already cleared the toothpaste for sale in the U.S. and they also noted that the European Union has allowed small amounts of diethylene glycol to be added to certain products.

"Therefore the warning issued by the FDA … is unscientific, irresponsible and contradictory," the agency said.

In May, officials in the Dominican Republic pulled tubes of Excel and Mr. Cool toothpaste made in China after learning the products contained diethylene glycol. Panama also recalled the toothpaste from the marketplace.

Health officials initially said they did not believe the toothpaste had been distributed in the U.S. but on Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it had intercepted one shipment of toothpaste containing diethylene glycol.

China's food and drug safety record has come under scrutiny in recent months as tests on the country's exports have detected the presence of potentially harmful ingredients

Tests have indicated that wheat flour, used in North American pet food, was tainted with melamine — a chemical used to make plastics and fertilizer.

In May, Canada's food watchdog intercepted a shipment of corn gluten imported from China that tested positive for melamine. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is continuing to check shipments of wheat, rice, soy and corn gluten and protein concentrates coming into the country from China.

[ocelot]

Tainted foods are daily problem in Asia
Updated Mon. Jun. 18 2007 7:45 AM ET

Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam -- As Nguyen Van Ninh needles his chopsticks through a steaming bowl of Vietnam's famous noodle soup, he knows it could be spiked with formaldehyde. But the thought of slurping up the same chemical used to preserve corpses isn't enough to deter him.

"I think if we don't see those chemicals being put in the food with our own eyes, then we can just smack our lips and pretend that there are no chemicals in the food," he said, devouring a 30-cent bowl of "pho" on a busy Hanoi sidewalk. "Why worry about it?"

While the discovery of tainted imports from China has shocked Westerners, food safety has long been a problem in much of Asia, where enforcement is lax and food poisoning deaths are not unusual. Hot weather, lack of refrigeration and demand for cheap street food drives vendors and producers to find inexpensive -- and often dangerous -- ways to preserve their products.

What's exported, for the most part, is the good stuff. Companies know they must meet certain standards if they want to make money. But in the domestic market, substandard items and adulterated foods abound, including items rejected for export.

Formaldehyde, for instance, has long been used to lengthen the shelf life of rice noodles and tofu in some Asian countries, even though it can cause liver, nerve and kidney damage. The chemical, often used in embalming, was found a few years ago in seven of 10 pho noodle factories in Hanoi.

Borax, found in everything from detergent to Fiberglas, is also commonly used to preserve fish and meats in Indonesia and elsewhere. Farmers in various countries often spray produce with banned pesticides, such as DDT.

"The people who do this want to make money. And if they're stupid and greedy, this is a bad combination," said Gerald Moy, a food safety expert at the World Health Organization in Geneva. "It's the wild West."

The quality of Asian food has come under harsh scrutiny after toxic substances were discovered in several Chinese exports.

Wheat gluten tainted with the industrial chemical melamine has been blamed for killing or sickening thousands of dogs and cats in North America. Fish containing pufferfish toxins, drug-laced frozen eel and juice spiked with harmful dyes were among other unsafe products shipped to the U.S.

Diethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting thickening agent also used in antifreeze, has been blamed for the deaths of at least 51 people in Panama after the chemical was imported from China and mixed into cough syrup and other medicines. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has halted all shipments of Chinese toothpaste to test for the same chemical reportedly found in tubes sold in Australia, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

The problems in Asia are not limited to China. Ice cream and sweets made with the same industrial dyes used for coloring garments have been found outside schools, and farmers have been caught dipping fruits in herbicide, to add shine, a day before going to market.

In India, pesticides often taint groundwater and produce. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been dueling with a New Delhi environmental group, which alleged it found unacceptable levels of pesticides in soft drinks.

Street food is another problem. Millions grab everything from chicken kebabs to rice porridge from unregulated food stalls where hygiene is often poor. Unsafe preservatives are sometimes added, and vendors typically use the cheapest oils and ingredients.

But the food is hot, cheap and tasty -- a combination that often overrides safety concerns in countries where many still live on $2 a day.

"Asking for food quality would be a luxury," said Alex Hillebrand, chemical and food safety adviser at WHO's regional office in New Delhi. "They're hungry people."

Some countries, such as Thailand, are trying to improve domestic food safety. In bustling Bangkok, where pots bubble and woks sizzle at makeshift kitchens pitched on sidewalks, markets are issued test kits that can detect up to 22 contaminants.

No one knows the extent of chemical-laced food in Asia or how it will affect public health.

"It might be that you consume it today, but you don't see any effects for 10 years," said Peter Sousa Hoejskov, a food quality and safety officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Thailand. "Some foods have issues that are developing over a long, long time and others you have an immediate reaction."

China has faced outrage among its own citizens in recent years. Whiskey laced with methanol, a toxic wood alcohol, was blamed for killing at least 11 people in southern Guangzhou. Local media in Shanghai uncovered the sale of phony tofu made from gypsum, paint and starch.

At least a dozen Chinese babies died and more than 200 were sickened with symptoms associated with malnutrition after drinking infant formula made of sugar and starch with few nutrients. In another case, lard for human consumption was made with hog slop, sewage, pesticides and recycled industrial oil.

Some Vietnamese have been so shaken by news of tainted Chinese foods, they are changing their eating habits. They are avoiding Chinese-made products and paying more -- up to $2 a bowl -- for pho at an air-conditioned chain restaurant with signs promising no formaldehyde or borax.

"I am very, very worried about it," said Duong Thuy Quynh, 31, who was eating beef pho because she was also worried about bird flu in chicken. "I'm ready to pay more to protect myself and my family."

[achebeautiful]

Tainted foods....pollution......oppressive towards their own people.....

.....and the world is worried about the Chinese becoming a threat as a superpower. Well, that kind of rule cannot sustain itself. My assessment is, China has a long way to go.

[achebeautiful]

Made-in-China Fears Grip U.S.

WASHINGTON -- China, a traditional source of cheap goods, has become an alarmingly top exporter of tainted and dangerous products to the United States, triggering concerns among consumers and regulators.

Reports of tainted pet foods, dangerous toys, fake drugs, toxin-coated monkfish and cosmetics, drug-laced frozen eel, illicit pesticide-laden mushrooms and other products have led to recalls and bans and potentially more stringent import and food safety laws.

Thousands of cats and dogs died recently after eating food made from wheat gluten spiked with melamine, a chemical used in fertilizers, prompting one of the largest pet-food recalls in US history. Made-in-China toothpaste have also been blacklisted, fearing it may contain a potentially deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes sold in Australia and elsewhere.

The concerns were compounded by the recall last week by a US company of 1.5 million of the wildly popular "Thomas and Friends" wooden train toys manufactured in China coated with potentially poisonous lead paint. Chinese-made fireworks for the July 4 US Independence Day celebrations have also made it onto the blacklist, with reports that at least two types of such explosives have been recalled amid worries they could "travel in unexpected and dangerous directions" and pose "special hazards to eyes and bystanders." "I think we have reached a point unfortunately where 'made in China' is now a warning label in the United States," said Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, a top campaigner in the US Congress for tighter food safety laws.

The Illinois lawmaker and another senator, Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut, held joint talks with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach and the Chinese ambassador, Zhou Wenzhong, in Washington over the contaminated shipments of food products from China.

They secured a commitment from the Chinese government and the FDA that they would work towards a mutual agreement to improve inspections and overall safety of food products and drugs, said a statement from the two senators. "This proposed agreement between the FDA and the Chinese government is a significant breakthrough in terms of food safety- and American consumers stand to be the big winners," Durbin said. China and the FDA currently do not have a binding agreement on food and drugs, there is no standard safety regulations between the two systems, and there are no mechanisms in place to inspect food production facilities and secure travel visas for investigations, the statement said.

The food safety problem surprisingly took center stage at the high level US-China Economic dialogue last month led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi. Following her return, China promised to overhaul its food safety rules. "The top priority for building a food safety standards system is to revise as soon as possible the rules for farm produce and processed food," said the director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Liu Pingjun, in Beijing this week.

In another sign of official determination to head off growing concern over shoddy or even deadly food and drug products emanating from Chinese factories, Beijing sentenced the former head of China's food and drug agency to death on a corruption conviction. China, which exports about two billion dollars each year in food products to the United States, is a top violator of American food safety standards, according to US authorities.

In April, for example, the authorities rejected 257 Chinese food shipments- far more than from any other country, media reports said. The safety concerns over Chinese products could fuel demands in Congress, already worried about a ballooning trade deficit, for protectionist laws, experts said. "At a time when Congress is keenly focused on the large and growing trade imbalance with China, this situation could be the kindling for trade protectionist legislation that is circulating in (Washington) DC," said Andrew Busch, a global currency strategist with BMO Capital Markets.

Lawmakers are already complaining that Beijing has been artificially weakening its currency in a bid to flood the United States with cheap imports that they say is posing a threat to some US industries and manufacturing employment. China is the second largest source of imports for the United

[ocelot]

Tires withdrawn in U.S. not sold in Canada: Transport Canada
Last Updated: Thursday, June 28, 2007 | 2:58 PM ET
CBC News
Canadian officials are investigating a tire recall issued in the U.S. to determine if similar action should be taken here, Transport Canada officials said Thursday.

The U.S. recall involves as many as 450,000 light-truck tires purchased by New Jersey-based Foreign Tire Sales Inc. The tires were imported from China's Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co.

Foreign Tire Sales said some of its tires were made without a gum strip, a safety device that helps bind the belts of a tire together.

Transport Canada officials said Thursday they are gathering data to determine which companies have imported tires from Foreign Tire Sales.

So far, the federal agency has confirmed that two Canadian wholesalers have imported tires from the New Jersey company. But, Transport Canada officials noted the tires imported into the country were passenger car tires not included in the U.S. recall.

Transport Canada spokeswoman Jessie Chauhan said the federal agency is encouraging consumers who may have purchased the tires to speak with a defect investigator with the department.

Tire manufacturers or importers are required under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act to notify Transport Canada, dealers and people who have purchased affected products about safety problems. Foreign Tire Sales Inc. has not filed a notice of defect with the federal agency.

Chauhan said while Transport Canada monitors recalls issued in other countries, the federal agency conducts independent assessments to determine future action.

"We don't have the power to order a recall but if our evidence clearly shows when we're investigating, as we are, that a safety related defect exists and the company refuses to issue a notice of defect … we would refer the matter to the Department of Justice for a prosecution," Chauhan said.

[achebeautiful]

I wish the US would just stop buying from China....this being just one of many reasons.

[lapayin]

Unfortunately the current business practice is to outsource. For my high tech company the outsourcing is to China, India and Russia, to save money. Many people from my company have lost their jobs because of the outsourcing. The feedback we are getting from people using the outsourced service is - it's terrible.