Political Review - realoutlook.com

Chinese Officials shudder to think tainted toys might tarnish China’s image as they prepare to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. The American public became acutely aware of the problem last August when Mattel was force to recall millions of toys manufactured in China that contained toxic lead based paint and had poor designs with small parts that could easily be swallowed by young children. Estimates are that about 75% of the toys for sale in U.S. stores come from China. Mattel’s actions only serve to raise awareness of the problem but hardly put a dent in the many millions of more toys that will make it to households around the world over the holiday season.

Concerns about Chinese products extend far beyond the toy industry. Last June, Colgate-Palmolive announced the recall of 5-ounce tubes of Colgate toothpaste suspected of containing a dangerous toxin contained in anti-freeze. The suspect tubes turned out to be counterfeits produced in China. The danger extends to cosmetics that have been found to contain skin damaging ingredients.

In April of this year reports surfaced of poisoned cats and dogs suffering kidney failure. The source was eventually traced to gluten from China contaminated with melamine, a substance used in plastics, fertilizers and flame retardants. Problems with foods for human consumption would surface as well with pesticide laden fruit and vegetables and contaminated seafood products.

The Food and Drug Administration [FDA] responded to the threat with a new import alert authorizing inspectors to detain products containing a wider variety of ingredients. But as international trade in agricultural products escalates the FDA faces a wider array of inspection challenges in addition to those coming from China. They are now able to inspect about 1% of imports it regulates compared to 8% in 1992 when the volume was substantially less. And despite their best efforts, the FDA and Chinese officials have yet to determine precisely where all the tainted products originate.

At a news conference with Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard last September, Chinese President Hu Jintao stated

“The Chinese Government has always taken the quality of Chinese products and the safety of Chinese food very seriously.”

Indeed, China has established stringent controls for manufacturers and monitoring food quality over the last few years claiming that 99% of their food exports to Japan and the West have complied to standards. But how widespread could the monitoring possibly be? The U.S. Department of Agriculture is only able to inspect about 16% of imported meat and poultry.

That China is serious about implementing the new standards may be exemplified by the July execution of former head of national food and drug safety, Zheng Xiaoyu, who was convicted on corruption charges. However, more recent cases indicated Zheng may have been a scape goat packaged for consumption by the international media. Chinese courts suspended the death sentence of Cao Wenzhuang of the drug registration department on a similar conviction. Zheng Shangjin, former head of the food and drug safety in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang received a four year sentence for taking bribes and abuse of power.

With the economic reforms of 1978 and 79 instigated by Deng Xiaoping it rapidly became apparent that the unregulated production of individuals outpaced the planned top down efforts by the Communist Party. The government would turn a blind eye to these illegal highly profitable enterprises. Some 700 million Chinese farmers confined to the commune system would be allowed some private production. Some would escape agriculture to join the growing private sector production in urban areas that would lift some 400 million above China’s poverty line over the next 25 years. The situation would gorge an already highly corrupt government bureaucracy. Monitoring this behemoth and rampant corruptions is only part of the problem.

China’s communist leadership had long ignored environmental disasters brought about by their aggressive drive for energy resources and agricultural production. The degradation of the land continued with the liberation of economic forces. And the efforts of successive governments to stem the tide of destruction seem feeble. In his book China Shakes the World: A Titan’s Rise and Troubled Future — and the Challenge for America, James Kynge describes stem the destruction along the Huai River where some 150 million people live:

“When local authorities were ordered by Beijing to resolve the problem, they released the polluted water that had been building up in their reservoirs and tanks, and in so doing, unleashed a tide of black liquid that killed almost everything it touched… Li Peng, then premier got involved, ordering the closure or relocation of thousands of factories… Several hundred factories were indeed closed, but they opened up again almost as quickly. By 1998 and 1999 it became clear that the campaign was going to fail; reports of people dying from being exposed to the noxious gases and chemicals in roadside ditches were regularly reported… Nevertheless, Xie Zhenhua, head of the State Environmental Protection Agency, stepped forward to proclaim that the campaign had been successful and the Huai’s water was drinkable again.”

Coverage of the 2008 Olympiad will bring to light either the untenable environmental conditions and industrial mayhem or the tightly regulated media that hides it. Either way the scrutiny may be more than Chinese officials can bare. This will inevitably bring about greater restrictions from importing countries. But meanwhile, buyer beware! Individuals need to take some responsibility by taking more than just price into consideration for what they bring home. [ro_21]

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 11:53 am and is filed under China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.