From China to Panama, a Trail of Poisoned Medicine

From China to Panama, a Trail of Poisoned Medicine

www.nytimes.com

The kidneys fail first. Then the central nervous system begins to misfire. Paralysis spreads, making breathing difficult, then often impossible without assistance. In the end, most victims die.

Many of them are children, poisoned at the hands of their unsuspecting parents.

The syrupy poison, diethylene glycol, is an indispensable part of the modern world, an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in some antifreeze.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.chron.com

This is just another example why the US needs to stop trading with China, shoddy circuit boards, tainted wheat, now shipping an antifreeze ingredient and labeling it as glycerin, these latest intentional deceptions by companies in China have cost the lives of thousands of pets and now humans are paying the price, with their own lives.

The counterfeit glycerin has not made it into the US, so far, but how can we be sure when the FDA is whining about being underfunded in their attempts to protect the US from these types of situations?

BOYCOTT CHINESE GOODS, can we even do this in the new global economy?

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 2007/5/6 by JacKatMtn]

Here's an update describing the FDA concerns over the poison China has been selling as glycerine, which is used in cough and fever syrups, this deception has caused many deaths in Panama and other countries.

FDA says beware of glycerin imported from China

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States has issued a warning to drug manufacturers, suppliers and health professionals that counterfeit drug additives have been using diethyline glycol, or DEG as a substitute for glycerin in cough medicine, fever medication and injectable drugs.
DEG is an industrial solvent commonly used in antifreeze and in recent years has caused deaths in Panama and Haiti when it was used as a substitute for glycerin, a more expensive sweet syrup, in cough medicine.

The FDA says some Chinese suppliers are using the poisonous DEG instead of glycerin and is warning manufacturers and suppliers of the importance of testing glycerin for DEG.

Yes, something wrong is going on with China. From medicine, to animal food, to people food. We have now learned that our food may be in trouble. I posted about the food problems here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...'


Given all this fact I think it's time to stop importing China's food and medicines.

I'm sure they would do the same if the situation was reversed.

Originally posted by JacKatMtn

The counterfeit glycerin has not made it into the US, so far, but how can we be sure when the FDA is whining about being underfunded in their attempts to protect the US from these types of situations?

BOYCOTT CHINESE GOODS, can we even do this in the new global economy?

You can't be sure, control wil be left to the players. Anyway that's a core concept of capitalism, to be left without governmental supervision.

Same reason, no state boykot is posible... but until further notice you still have your free will of choice. I wouldn't buy any food stuff or medicine from China.

But it is horrendous to think substances made in China will soon be part of any commercial product for internal use.

Additives for food and drugs is a huge business and without much regulation or enviromental restrictions China will get the market. If they not already have.



[edit on 7-5-2007 by khunmoon]

Originally posted by khunmoon
Same reason, no state boykot is posible... but until further notice you still have your free will of choice. I wouldn't buy any food stuff or medicine from China.

Maybe a total boycott of goods from China, and include US companies who use Chinese produced parts and products to make their own goods.

How would you go about finding out which companies (US or other) utilizes Chinese components or ingredients to make their products?

A start may be to stop paying US farmers "to not" farm their land. I know the farm subsidies and their purpose but how long will it be before the US no longer has the farmers with experience to produce crops?

How much of the farming knowledge gained over generations have we lost as a nation already?

I'm afraid there's no company in the business of manufactor of general household goods that can compete without relying on Chinese components in their products. They can produce anything for 1 or 2 cents that others charge 10 cents for.

To cut out China you first have to create a will of the consumers to pay more. You can't do that! It would go against the basic physics of market.

Only education and information can change it.

Originally posted by khunmoon
To cut out China you first have to create a will of the consumers to pay more. You can't do that! It would go against the basic physics of market.

I figured that if we boycotted Chinese goods and products it would be a financial hit to all consumers, but you would think that if a boycott happens and can last for a year, at least, that the Chinese government would step up their inspection process of goods exported from their country.

I find it funny that these faulty and counterfeit goods are hitting export countries and not China itself, somebody over there, in control, knows what they are shipping out of the country, and are passing the responsibility to the receiving nations, to figure out what the quality of the products are. IMO this is a severe abuse of trust and not what was expected when the markets were opened to their goods.

China pays their workers slave wages and reaps the financial benefits off the backs of their people, this was not enough, now they are willing to ship life threatening products to continue their profiteering.

It might be painful, but all goods that can trace anything to China should be boycotted, I would much rather spend a few dollars more for products where quality and safety are assured than to risk disaster to save a few.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the workers of China, it is the government with which I have a problem.

Originally posted by JacKatMtnIt might be painful, but all goods that can trace anything to China should be boycotted, I would much rather spend a few dollars more for products where quality and safety are assured than to risk disaster to save a few.

just out of curiosity, do you have anything from China?

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
I find it funny that these faulty and counterfeit goods are hitting export countries and not China itself, somebody over there, in control, knows what they are shipping out of the country, and are passing the responsibility to the receiving nations, to figure out what the quality of the products are. IMO this is a severe abuse of trust and not what was expected when the markets were opened to their goods.

Didn't you read the whole article?

The case of Wang, the tailor who turned into dealing pharmaceutical supply is an example of how hard they hit their own, to be put to death when caught.

From the news link.


But the Panamanian case has the same root of the poisoneous substance as the Wang case.


Nothing will happen to the exporter, CNSC Fortune Way, a unit of a state-owned business, Nothing will happen to the producing company. It is now closed down, beside "the Chinese drug administration has concluded that it has no jurisdiction in the case because the factory was not certified to make medicine."

The conclusion.


There's only the consumer to react. No government will before a state of war with China is declared. And I pray to it never gets there.

But how many Americans will ever here about this story?

Some 1000s will learn it from here, other 1000s from other places in the net. Maybe a 100.000 will learn it from reading the NYT article.

300.000 out of 300 millions might be knowledgeable about the incident.

You can be sure the government won't do anything to alert the population. Trade relations with China is a high sensible issue.

And after all it was Panamanians, not Americans who died (sarcasm intended).

China uses SLAVES to manufacture goods. How can anyone compete with that? You want to live another day, then get up and work. Your wages are your life. China has political prisoners up the proverbial ying yang and they use them to produce goods for Wal Mart and Harbor Freight and many other fine purveyors of cheap consumer goods.

Originally posted by darkhero
just out of curiosity, do you have anything from China?

Yes, my house is filled with products with some Chinese parts, I never said that I didn't have some of these items.

My boycott against China goods just started, I will make every effort to make sure that I purchase products that have no Chinese input.

The first thing I have to do is put together a list of companies which use their parts or ingredients, this will probably be difficult but I will try to find out this information.


@Khunmoon

Yes I read the article, my problem is with the fact that China allowed these products to leave the country, they should have caught this before it was able to kill all those people in other countries. The fact that Wang was put to death does not make me feel safer using Chinese products.

I am the consumer, that is why I am going to see if a boycott could help put pressure on China to act more responsibly in their exporting of Chinese products.

The evidence is there, I do not need to wait until a family member, or a family pet gets sick or dies, to realize that you cannot trust products made in China.

The first thing I have to do is put together a list of companies which use their parts or ingredients, this will probably be difficult but I will try to find out this information.

JacKatMtn, I'm behind you on such an intiative. But it'll be a collosal work.

You'll have to research every additive listed on any given product by contacting the producers and have to rest on their word. If you want confirmation there's no other way than checking shiping papers. Don't know if that is possible.

I thought about it and the only way it is achiveable is by starting a movement for this cause. That would be possible, I think.

Since your post came up I've done a little searching.

The first I got was a FDA database containing more than 3000 substancies allowed in production, 2000 of them as direct additives.
www.foodsafety.gov...

This information is generated from a database maintained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) under an ongoing program known as the Priority-based Assessment of Food Additives (PAFA). PAFA contains administrative, chemical and toxicological information on over 2000 substances directly added to food, including substances regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as direct, "secondary" direct, and color additives, and Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) and prior-sanctioned substances. In addition, the database contains only administrative and chemical information on less than 1000 such substances. The more than 3000 total substances together comprise an inventory often referred to as "Everything" Added to Food in the United States (EAFUS).

Then I search *food additives china*, gave 1.1million hits. One of the first was a list of additives availiable from Chinese manufactors. It has a total of about 600 different substancies. It's a commercial site, but it gives an idea what to look for. That said I suspect other compounds than those listed on that site might find their way to our markets.

I'll do some further research into links from the search, and help you in any way with this project. But the issue is big enough to deserve a movement.

The initiative is yours and I support it.

Great start Khunmoon

I will be on this bigtime once I return from my 3 day trip for a family visit.

over a million hits, is huge, and this seems like it could be an daunting task, but with the membership here I think it would be possible to gather the necessary information and come up with a viable approach to this situation.

It is time, for a movement such as this, many of us here see the problems, the corruption, and the total disregard for the public's safety,

this could be our chance to make a difference.

Let's see how many of us here are interested in tackling this, and if there is a sizable amount, we could break up the research into different areas so we are all not spending the time on the same subjects.

Maybe it is time for an ATS research project?

We shall see, count me in Khunmoon, let's see if we can start something good!!

I'll be back Thursday May 10, in the evening, hopefully we will have some more interest in this situation.

Stay safe ATSers!! as Aaahhnnollddd says "I'll be back!"

JackatMtn - Count me in. I'll do what I can to help research.
God forbid something gets into infants, and/or childrens foods.
Yes indeed, Sir. I'm onboard with you.

Great! This is a start.

We will need some with knowledge/expertise in the chemistry of food additives.

Anybody volunteer?