The deadly side of China's rampant fakes.

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Andreas
Board Royalty

Joined: Feb 27, 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: 31 N 121 E

Posted: June 30, 2004 - 04:57 PM
Post subject: The deadly side of China's rampant fakes.

From today's SCMP:

Tofu made from paint. Phony rabies vaccine that's nothing but saltwater. Bogus whisky packing a toxic wood alcohol punch.
China's thriving product pirates are best known for fake DVDs and designer shirts. But they do their worst damage peddling phony medicines and foods that are widely sold and can be deadly.

Even Chinese officials say they fear for their safety following a spate of deaths and gruesome revelations.

"It's hard to know what you can eat anymore. I have the exact same kind of food safety fears as ordinary citizens," Zheng Xiaoyun, director of the National Food Medicine Inspection Bureau, said on state television last week.

China's leaders were jolted into action last month following the deaths of 12 babies who were fed fake infant formula made of sugar and starch with few nutrients. Scores of malnourished infants that survived were hospitalised with swollen heads and wasted bodies.

Premier Wen Jiabao ordered a nationwide investigation. Authorities reported 137 arrests - including two officials accused of covering up the sales and faking an investigation. More than 100,000 bags of fake formula sold under dozens of brand names were seized.

Yet new reports of "big head babies" blamed on phony formula keep cropping up in areas throughout China, and it's reportedly still on sale in many places.

"Making and selling unsafe food is so lucrative and so rampant that we don't have the means to control it," said Cai Shouqiu, head of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Law. "Everyone just wants to make money."

Victims are often China's poorest, least educated people, who know little other than that the products are cheap.

But cities aren't safe, either.

Supermarkets in Shanghai recently pulled pickled vegetables from their shelves after reports that they were made using toxic industrial salts and pesticides such as DDT.

Last week, codfish oil vitamin capsules had to pulled after they were found to be phony, though apparently not harmful.

In the southern business capital of Guangzhou, one of China's most cosmopolitan areas, at least 11 people died this month after drinking liquor made with methanol, a toxic wood alcohol. The government says it has arrested six suppliers and is looking for 17 other people.

John Huang, a Shanghai office worker, displayed the growing cynicism as he emerged from a suburban train station into a crowd of shouting farmers hawking lychees, kebabs and tofu cakes.

"I don't dare buy from them. All they sell is phony stuff," Huang said.

Still, he showed no aversion to other counterfeits, turning a second later to flip through a rack of pirated DVDs.

No official statistics on the human cost of fake products are available.

But in one southwestern province, Yunnan, 17 deaths from tainted food have been reported this year.

A recent survey of 2,415 people in seven Chinese cities found that just 45 per cent of those who responded have confidence in the safety of their food. The rest ranged from highly sceptical to only marginally confident, according to the survey published recently in the newspaper Shanghai Daily.

Such sentiments haven't been helped by media reports showing officials to be largely unconcerned - or colluding with the cheats.

In one case, medical inspectors were believed to be working with distributors who sold rabies vaccine made of only saline to small country clinics, according to a police official speaking on state television.

Authorities in four eastern provinces reportedly seized 40,000 boxes of bogus vaccines that provided no protection against rabies, a major killer in China's countryside.

In Shanghai, illegal producers made phony tofu cakes mashed together from gypsum, paint and starch, then fried in oil made from kitchen waste, swill and intestines, the Shanghai Youth Daily newspaper reported.

The makers paid police about 9,200 yuan (US$1,100) a year to avoid inspections, according to the newspaper, which said it sent two reporters to pose as tofu merchants.

"Once a product is on shelves, it is very hard to tell what is poisonous and to get anyone to spend the time and the money to pursue a case," said Cai, the environmental law specialist.

Public outrage has prompted some punishments of negligent officials and stepped-up inspections.

Shanghai has launched a "Fear-Free Food Campaign," and says it will close small slaughterhouses and step up quality inspections of grocery stores, outdoor markets and cafeterias.

"I only buy from the original producers, because distributors can't be trusted," said Miss Xuan, owner of the Three Thousand Mile grocery in the northeastern city of Dandong.

"There is so much fake stuff around," she said. "Even fruit juice and noodles."

In the same context I read an article in "The Economist" which stated that in China every year more than 200,000 people died from fake and substandard medicine. Reason why I rather pay a bit more at Worldlink than experiment with a local solution.

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Henry_Chinaski
Board Lord

Joined: Aug 16, 2003
Posts: 5025

Posted: June 30, 2004 - 06:56 PM

That's where capital penalty comes to good use.
People exploiting other people's future and long life health in exchange for money is clear out of bounds.
Seems like there is no potential punishment for this kind of scum other than death.

Imagine having 70 (probably less) years of painful dreadful undeveloped sick life because some retarded bimbo sold fake food for you during your crucial baby development years.

Having a society with people thinking that a "money x lifelong health" tradeoff is just another crime is not the right way to go. People that kind like this will never be honest no matter what is the punishment is. Death to this scum.

jane_ca

Rocker

Joined: Aug 26, 2003
Posts: 748

Status: Offline

Posted: July 19, 2004 - 07:42 PM

Read this couple weeks ago from a local newspaper. Government bureau randomly examined some children's clothing from the market. Around 46% something failed to pass the standard.
Reason: harmful chemicals used to color or process the fabrics are higher than China industry regulation.
In other words, consumers are buying clothing potentially harmful to little babys. Look at the clothing stuff I bought here, I feel bad.

Another thing, the local newspaper revealed, for Leeche(荔枝) lovers. Leeche is tropic fruit and can easily go rotten. In order to minimize loss, some vendors use too much preservatives or other chemicals to prevent fruits from getting rotten. I don't mean to disgust anyone here. Maybe not every vendor is doing it. Anyway, I stopped eating Leeche, one of my favourite fruits, after reading that news.
Watermelons are good. Hopefully nothing goes wrong with watermelons.

When you buy bottled water, probably it's better to stick with Nestle, Cocola or some well known brand for assurance of quality. I once bought a bottle of water made in Hainan (海南) and afterwards I had bad stomach.

Death penalty or government inspection can not stop such unethical behavior. Ppl need education and spiritual guidance. This money culture saturated so deeply......(sigh)

acujerjer
Board Royalty

Joined: Sep 10, 2003
Posts: 7770
Location: up your butt and around the corner

Posted: July 20, 2004 - 12:33 AM

Quote:

In Shanghai, illegal producers made phony tofu cakes mashed together from gypsum, paint and starch, then fried in oil made from kitchen waste, swill and intestines, the Shanghai Youth Daily newspaper reported.

The makers paid police about 9,200 yuan (US$1,100) a year to avoid inspections, according to the newspaper, which said it sent two reporters to pose as tofu merchants.

Come on Andreas, don't you know this can happen anywhere you racist! It happens everyday where I come from.