0 comment Friday, November 7, 2014 | admin
The tainted pet food story seems to grow and grow, although it is currently being soft-pedaled in the media. But here is a recent Washington Post piece which warns us that
It's Not Just Pet Food
"...It's not just pet owners who should be worried. The uncontrolled distribution of low-quality imported food ingredients, mainly from China, poses a grave threat to public health worldwide.
Essential ingredients, such as vitamins used in many packaged foods, arrive at U.S. ports from China and, as recent news reports have underscored, are shipped without inspection to food and beverage distributors and manufacturers. Although they are used in relatively small quantities, these ingredients carry enormous risks for American consumers. One pound of tainted wheat gluten could, if undetected, contaminate as much as a thousand pounds of food.
[...]We know, however, that alarms have been raised about hygiene and labor standards at many Chinese manufacturing facilities. In China, municipal water used in the manufacturing process is often contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides and other chemicals. Food ingredient production is particularly susceptible to environmental contamination.
Equally worrisome, U.S. officials often lack the capability to trace foreign-produced food ingredients to their source of manufacture. In theory, the Bioterrorism Prevention Act of 2001 provides some measure of traceability. In practice, the act is ineffective and was not designed for this challenge. Its enforcement is also shrouded in secrecy by the Department of Homeland Security.
Even if Food and Drug Administration regulators wanted to crack down on products emanating from the riskiest foreign facilities, they couldn't, because they have no way of knowing which ingredients come from which plant.
[...]...80 percent of the world's vitamin C is now manufactured in China -- much of it unregulated and some of it of questionable quality.
[...]The United States is sitting on powder keg with uncontrolled importation and the distribution of low-quality food ingredients. Before it explodes -- putting more animals and people at risk -- corrective steps must be taken.''
And this blogger elaborates further on the vitamin issue in her informative blog entry.
Did any of you realize the fact that China monopolizes so much of the vitamin market? I was not aware of that situation. Some sources I read say that China produces almost all the vitamins we buy in this country, although according to the Washington Post article, they make 'only' 80 percent of the world supply.
Think how many vitamin supplements are ingested in our currently health-obsessed country. It's ironic that an item which is sold as a health-enhancing, life-giving product might turn out to be toxic or tainted.
And here:
Food Inspectors Target Bay Area Ethnic Markets
(CBS 5) ANTIOCH The cost of testing and inspection are making it a burden for county health officials in the Bay Area to examine the safety of imported foods sold at ethnic markets among other places.
Potentially unsafe imported food slips past inspection every day in California.
At one Thai and Laotian market in San Pablo, health inspectors found teas and puddings from China without ingredient labels, and food from Russia packed in cans made with lead.
[...]
"As safe as our food supply is, there is risk," he said. "I don't want people to be overly afraid of the food supply, but I think they need to be very careful."
Last month alone, the FDA detained almost 900 shipments of fish, vegetables, nuts, spices and oils. Imported foods were tainted by unsafe food-coloring, salmonella, or pesticides. Some shipments were just plain filthy.
China and Mexico are the biggest offenders.''
No surprise that those two countries would be the big offenders, and they are two countries which are seemingly being coddled and catered to by our government.
And speaking of our government, which supposedly acts in our interest,
Effort to guard U.S. food supply still sits on shelf
WASHINGTON - After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Food and Drug Administration developed a comprehensive plan to guard the U.S. food supply against tainted imports, which were seen as a serious security threat. But nearly six years later, the plan has languished because of a lack of official will and tight federal budgets, according to former senior officials involved in formulating the strategy.
[...]``It was a bitter pill to swallow,'' said Benjamin England, a former FDA regulatory lawyer who worked on the plan for the agency. ``I'm disappointed that they are basically sitting on the solution.''
In the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, the government and an army of experts developed protections against a wide array of threats. But as time passed and no new attacks occurred, the sense of urgency faded. In the case of foodstuffs, the FDA's Import Strategic Plan fell victim to budget constraints, competing priorities and government inertia.
``The bottom line is that the United States is being overwhelmed with food imports, and they are not being screened by the FDA,'' said William Hubbard, a former FDA associate commissioner for policy and planning.
``A lot of time and effort went into it, and the best minds of the agency were brought in,'' he said of the import protection plan. ``It wasn't approved or disapproved. It was basically, `We can't do this because we have no money.''
There is, however, a new urgency to deal with the threat: The chemicals implicated in the pet deaths, identified as melamine and cyanuric acid, were found in protein ingredients used in human foods, ranging from bread to veggie burgers.
[...]
This week, the FDA announced that it is expanding testing for contamination of human foods. China, a country with a reputation for lax safety standards, is a major supplier of ingredients used in both pet and human food products marketed by U.S. companies.
And here, at the China Confidential blog, we read that
To make matters worse, China's retail sales arm--the brutal, Main Street-busting behemoth known as Wal-Mart--plans to grow so-called organic food in China. Organic food ... from a country plagued by toxic industrial pollution that taints the water and soil in which the crops are grown. Wonderful.
Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA's food-safety center, said the agency was alerting food producers and importers about possible risks involving six protein-concentrate products. It also is testing imports from China.
The blogger Fallenmonk thinks the tainted pet food incidents are
Just the Tip of the Iceberg
The companies that distribute foods nationally can get their meat from anywhere in the world and sell it at your local grocery and you will never know where that meat came from unless there is a problem identified after the fact.
This is ugly and will get uglier trust me on that. We are at high risk and there is no one doing anything about it.''
I have to agree with him on that point; I don't see the issue being covered by the Big Media for the most part, except minimally. Of the bloggers who are sounding the alarm, most are dealing only with the pet food aspect of this story, which is merely one part of it. Maybe the media are hoping to play this story down, minimize it into a pet food only issue. And I certainly don't see any sense of urgency on the part of our government and our emasculated FDA to do much about this worrying problem, considering the vast scale of the situation.
Certainly some activism is called for here; this issue, as I said, should transcend politics; it's our safety, and we should all be concerned, regardless of where we are on the political spectrum. And simply becoming more aware of where our food comes from, reading labels, researching things, is a first step. I think many people, myself included, were only marginally aware of our utter dependence on imports for so many of our necessities, including food.
For a big, rich country like the United States to be dependent on foreign countries, especially untrustworthy countries, for so much of our food supply is dangerous and just plain foolish; this is a situation that needs rectifying.
Labels: Food Safety, Free Trade, Globalism, Media
0 comment Friday, August 15, 2014 | admin
One of the stories that is not getting anywhere near the coverage it should be receiving is the toxic Chinese import story. From my reader and fellow blogger known here as 'Call Me Mom' comes this World Net Daily story:
Is China trying to poison Americans and their pets?
(We might well wonder, considering the sheer number of toxins and harmful additives being found in many Chinese products exported to our country and many other countries):
WASHINGTON � While Americans are still recovering from a scandal over poison pet foods imported from China, FDA inspectors report tainted food imports intended for American humans are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs.
Last month, like most months, China topped the list of countries whose products were refused by the FDA � and that list includes many countries, including Mexico and Canada, who export far more food products to the U.S. than China.
Some 257 refusals of Chinese products were recorded in April. By comparison, only 140 were from Mexico and only 23 from Canada.
Refused by the FDA in April because they were "filthy":
* salted bean curd cubes in brine with chili and sesame oil
* dried apple
* dried peach
* dried pear
* dried round bean curd
* dried mushroom
* olives
* frozen bay scallops
* frozen Pacific cod
* sardines
* frozen seafood mix
* fermented bean curd
[...]
China has also attempted to export hundreds of thousands of pounds of chickens and poultry products to the U.S., even though it is not yet certified to do so. Chinese exporters disguise the meat by labeling crates "dried lily flower" or "prune slices" or "vegetables."
Despite the deliberate deception, the U.S. government is about to certify the Chinese to export poultry legally. ''
That last paragraph should be disturbing: China wants to export poultry products, including chickens to us. Why on earth we would want to import chicken or other meat from the other side of the world, especially from a country which has a long and blemished record of selling tainted and filthy foods is beyond me.
This news story tells us about the Chinese record of overusing pesticides.
Pesticides next frontier in China food safety
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's farmers overuse pesticides, skip protective clothing and have at their fingertips an array of banned and counterfeit products, raising another area of concern in the country's fragile food chain.
Spraying chemicals on crops improperly or using products that may be fake or banned risks the health of China's hundreds of millions of farmers and could lead to unsafe levels of residues in fruits and vegetables, experts say.''
And then there are the toxic toothpaste and cough syrup problems:
China admits producing toxic toothpaste for kids
Panama and the Dominican Republic report tainted toothpaste imported from China containing diethylene glycol. Importing countries now demand transparency; Beijing pledges inquiries and greater controls. Toothpaste makers object that they have been making the same products for years without causing death.
China announced yesterday an "inquiry" into the origin of toothpaste containing potentially lethal poison exported to Central America. It also tried to reassure importing countries that Chinese products are safe. However, many buyers want Chinese companies and government agencies to show greater transparency and co-operation.
Chen Yaozu, general manager of Danyang Chengshi Household Chemical Co, said his company had exported to Panama toothpaste containing diethylene glycol, a chemical blamed for the deaths of more than 100 people in that country last year after it was mixed into cough syrup.''
There is also the issue of food that may be produced at home, but sent to Third World countries -- including China -- for processing, and such food may not be labeled as such.
British prawns go to China to be shelled
Supermarkets and food producers are taking their products on huge globetrotting journeys, despite pledging to cut their carbon emissions.
The Sunday Times has found that home-grown products are being transported thousands of miles overseas for processing before being put on sale back in Britain.
Scottish prawns are being hand-shelled in China, Atlantic haddock caught off Scotland is being prepared in Poland and Welsh cockles are being sent to Holland to be put in jars before going on sale in Britain.
Meanwhile, products grown overseas are taking circuitous routes to Britain. African-grown coffee is being packed 3,500 miles away in India, Canadian prawns are processed in Iceland, and Bolivian nuts are being packed in Italy.
While ethical consumers have long opted for organic and fair trade products, there is now an increasing focus on cutting "food miles", which generate unnecessary carbon emissions, contributing to global warming. ''
Does this make the least bit of sense, to send shellfish and other seafood off to the other side of the world to be processed, then shipped back home to the place of origin? In what kind of insane world is this the accepted practice? Simply from a freshness standpoint, even if we knew that the country doing the processing was a country with safe practices and clean conditions, which is not true of much of the Third World, it still makes no sense to send foods to faraway places for processing. Surely this lunacy is all about money; do the businesses save so much by sending the food to be processed in Third World countries that it makes up for the shipping charges?
And I wonder what American foods are treated similarly?
The Washington Post also gives us a partial list of the many tainted products coming from China:
Tainted Chinese Imports Common
Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical.
Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics.
Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria.
Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.
These were among the 107 food imports from China that the Food and Drug Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines.''
Some articles also mentioned products like lotions, hand cleaners, soaps, etc. which contained a toxic substitute for glycerine. Since reading that article, I have since noticed that a distressingly large percentage of skin products on our local shelves are 'Made in China.' I'll pass, thank you; I won't knowingly buy or use them, and I encourage everybody out there to shun the "Made in China" items. If I have to pay more for something that is made here in the U.S.A., or in another somewhat trustworthy country, then I'm happy to pay more.
The Washington Post article continues:
It's not just about cheap imports, added Carol Tucker Foreman, a former assistant secretary of agriculture now at the Consumer Federation of America.
"Our farmers and food processors have drooled for years to be able to sell their food to that massive market," Foreman said. "The Chinese counterfeit. They have a serious piracy problem. But we put up with it because we want to sell to them."
There is the problem: greedy American exporters. We have to buy Chinese garbage in order for some of our farmers and processors to have access to that prized 'Chinese market.' Why so many in this country are stuck on the idea of 'opening up new markets' and having limitless growth is beyond me. Nothing is limitless, and the idea that these people are willing to risk the lives of American consumers so they can sell more to the Chinese is disgraceful. It's the same people and the same mentality that gives us the idea that we can accept limitless numbers of immigrants so that the same greedheads can have millions of new customers here at home.
And the toxic Chinese products are not limited to food and personal care products like toothpaste and skin care. Now we read about toxic blankets:
Tainted blankets still on shelves
BLANKETS contaminated with dangerously high levels of a toxic chemical remained on the shelves of Sydney stores yesterday, despite claims by the importer, Sheridan, that the products had never been available to retail customers.
Dozens of the "Indulgence" blankets imported from China were on display at Sheridan's factory outlet in Homebush.
At the company's Arncliffe outlet, a sales assistant said the store had sold out of the blankets just days before.
Responding to the Herald's claims that independent tests on the blankets had revealed levels of the carcinogenic chemical formaldehyde almost 10 times higher than permissible under international standards, a Sheridan spokesman said on Sunday: "The blanket is sold to commercial customers, such as hotels, and is not available to the broader retail consumer market."
Some bloggers have written about the problem. The Town Crier recommends
Victory Gardens! Kill 2 'birds' with one stone...GROW something
...GROW SOMETHING! If you can keep a house plant alive, you can grow something to eat!
Worried about the food supply? GROW something to eat! One tomato plant or one pot full of lettuce - GROW something.
You'll dispense with part of the 'need' for 'guest workers' and you'll know it's safe. Most of your tomatoes at the store are grown in Mexico, where they have no restrictions on the chemicals or cleanliness. Check the boxes if you don't believe it. Besides, don't you think you're supplying Mexico with enough of your dollars?
During World War 2, our parents and grandparents did it. It made a difference of 85 Million 1945 dollars. Don't we have any of the 'stuff' left that those good people had to do the same?''
Good commonsense advice; I agree, and that was one of the suggestions I made in my earlier blog entries on this problem. We can't grow everything we need, but we should be as self-sufficient as possible, and of course by growing our own produce, we can exercise some control over what we are exposed to.
And Mike Tuggle at the Rebellion blog discusses the globalist connection:
Ah, globalism. We don�t have to go to the trouble of manufacturing anything in this country anymore. We let other countries go to all the muss and fuss of making things, and let them send their products over here. That includes cars, food, and even people.
But there seem to be some problems with outsourcing everything:
Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical. Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics. Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria. Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.
[...]
So why not simply stop this flow of substandard, unfit Chinese imports? The answer is a combination of greed and induced helplessness:
"So many U.S. companies are directly or indirectly involved in China now, the commercial interest of the United States these days has become to allow imports to come in as quickly and smoothly as possible," said Robert B. Cassidy, a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China and now director of international trade and services for Kelley Drye Collier Shannon, a Washington law firm.
As a result, the United States finds itself "kowtowing to China," Cassidy said, even as that country keeps sending American consumers adulterated and mislabeled foods.
Ok, so declaring ourselves borderless has created some problems, from residents still loyal to their home countries and peoples, to contaminated food. But as long as the globalist elite makes a killing, it�s our duty to accept it. Objecting the globalist agenda could get you labeled as "protectionist" or, God help you, "xenophobic." So to avoid having anyone calling us a bad name, we�ll put up with these threats to our families. ''
Really, this insane policy of openness which our government and elites have committed us to is a source of danger to us in many ways, the obvious one here being the exposure to unfit and unsafe foods, all considered part of the 'cost of doing business' and expanding our exports to China. Likewise, we are all at the mercy of the 'open borders' mania of the globalizing elites, as in their lust for cheap labor and 'expanding markets' they are willing to let millions of illegal and legal immigrants overrun us, along with many atavistic diseases which our forefathers toiled so long and hard to eradicate from among us -- and now, all their heroic work is being undone by our elites 'open borders' and 'free trade' obsessions.
We can easily protect ourselves from these maladies. That most of our political leaders and cultural elites are opposed to doing so--or even entertaining the possibility of doing so--illustrates a malevolent hositility toward the average native.''
Who will speak up for the American people? Our leaders and politicians evidently don't care about our lives, our health, or our safety, considering that they seem to be willing to do nothing to remove or at least minimize the threats to the American citizenry. Profits seem to be the only concern. The block quote above, from blogger the Audacious Epigone, expresses what had also occurred to me: 'malevolent hostility' is a strong phrase, but if our leaders show no signs of taking any positive measures to protect the lives of citizens, what other conclusion can we come to? We are faced with deciding whether our leadership is hopelessly, shamefully inept, or whether they are just guilty of cold indifference when it comes to our lives and safety.
The WorldNet Daily article with which I opened this piece asks whether China is intentionally trying to poison us. The fact is they have already caused the deaths of a number of people in other countries with toxic cough syrup and toothpaste, as well as causing the deaths of a number of pets in our country. It seems pointless to speculate about their motives, but at the very least we can be sure they are inept and indifferent to human life and safety. Maybe in an overpopulated country such as China, human life is held much more cheaply than it is here, and maybe they simply don't care whether they harm us barbarians here in America. One would think common sense would dictate that it isn't good business practice to sicken or kill your customers, but since we go on merrily importing more of their unfit-for-consumption products, apparently we don't have any problem with buying their deadly wares.
And as I write this, there are many Americans around this country buying more cheap shoddy Chinese goods at their local Wal-Mart or Dollar Stores, willing to risk health and life to save a buck.
As far as our government's silence on this issue, I will be far less inclined to listen when some nannystate government official tells us about the dangers of trans-fats. Please, you government nannies and busybodies: stop obsessing about things like trans-fats while there are much more worrisome substances in all this Chinese garbage our government welcomes. The hypocrisy is staggering. Your credibility is nil when you refuse to deal with the Chinese threat.
Is China trying to poison Americans and their pets?
(We might well wonder, considering the sheer number of toxins and harmful additives being found in many Chinese products exported to our country and many other countries):
WASHINGTON � While Americans are still recovering from a scandal over poison pet foods imported from China, FDA inspectors report tainted food imports intended for American humans are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs.
Last month, like most months, China topped the list of countries whose products were refused by the FDA � and that list includes many countries, including Mexico and Canada, who export far more food products to the U.S. than China.
Some 257 refusals of Chinese products were recorded in April. By comparison, only 140 were from Mexico and only 23 from Canada.
Refused by the FDA in April because they were "filthy":
* salted bean curd cubes in brine with chili and sesame oil
* dried apple
* dried peach
* dried pear
* dried round bean curd
* dried mushroom
* olives
* frozen bay scallops
* frozen Pacific cod
* sardines
* frozen seafood mix
* fermented bean curd
[...]
China has also attempted to export hundreds of thousands of pounds of chickens and poultry products to the U.S., even though it is not yet certified to do so. Chinese exporters disguise the meat by labeling crates "dried lily flower" or "prune slices" or "vegetables."
Despite the deliberate deception, the U.S. government is about to certify the Chinese to export poultry legally. ''
That last paragraph should be disturbing: China wants to export poultry products, including chickens to us. Why on earth we would want to import chicken or other meat from the other side of the world, especially from a country which has a long and blemished record of selling tainted and filthy foods is beyond me.
This news story tells us about the Chinese record of overusing pesticides.
Pesticides next frontier in China food safety
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's farmers overuse pesticides, skip protective clothing and have at their fingertips an array of banned and counterfeit products, raising another area of concern in the country's fragile food chain.
Spraying chemicals on crops improperly or using products that may be fake or banned risks the health of China's hundreds of millions of farmers and could lead to unsafe levels of residues in fruits and vegetables, experts say.''
And then there are the toxic toothpaste and cough syrup problems:
China admits producing toxic toothpaste for kids
Panama and the Dominican Republic report tainted toothpaste imported from China containing diethylene glycol. Importing countries now demand transparency; Beijing pledges inquiries and greater controls. Toothpaste makers object that they have been making the same products for years without causing death.
China announced yesterday an "inquiry" into the origin of toothpaste containing potentially lethal poison exported to Central America. It also tried to reassure importing countries that Chinese products are safe. However, many buyers want Chinese companies and government agencies to show greater transparency and co-operation.
Chen Yaozu, general manager of Danyang Chengshi Household Chemical Co, said his company had exported to Panama toothpaste containing diethylene glycol, a chemical blamed for the deaths of more than 100 people in that country last year after it was mixed into cough syrup.''
There is also the issue of food that may be produced at home, but sent to Third World countries -- including China -- for processing, and such food may not be labeled as such.
British prawns go to China to be shelled
Supermarkets and food producers are taking their products on huge globetrotting journeys, despite pledging to cut their carbon emissions.
The Sunday Times has found that home-grown products are being transported thousands of miles overseas for processing before being put on sale back in Britain.
Scottish prawns are being hand-shelled in China, Atlantic haddock caught off Scotland is being prepared in Poland and Welsh cockles are being sent to Holland to be put in jars before going on sale in Britain.
Meanwhile, products grown overseas are taking circuitous routes to Britain. African-grown coffee is being packed 3,500 miles away in India, Canadian prawns are processed in Iceland, and Bolivian nuts are being packed in Italy.
While ethical consumers have long opted for organic and fair trade products, there is now an increasing focus on cutting "food miles", which generate unnecessary carbon emissions, contributing to global warming. ''
Does this make the least bit of sense, to send shellfish and other seafood off to the other side of the world to be processed, then shipped back home to the place of origin? In what kind of insane world is this the accepted practice? Simply from a freshness standpoint, even if we knew that the country doing the processing was a country with safe practices and clean conditions, which is not true of much of the Third World, it still makes no sense to send foods to faraway places for processing. Surely this lunacy is all about money; do the businesses save so much by sending the food to be processed in Third World countries that it makes up for the shipping charges?
And I wonder what American foods are treated similarly?
The Washington Post also gives us a partial list of the many tainted products coming from China:
Tainted Chinese Imports Common
Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical.
Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics.
Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria.
Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.
These were among the 107 food imports from China that the Food and Drug Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines.''
Some articles also mentioned products like lotions, hand cleaners, soaps, etc. which contained a toxic substitute for glycerine. Since reading that article, I have since noticed that a distressingly large percentage of skin products on our local shelves are 'Made in China.' I'll pass, thank you; I won't knowingly buy or use them, and I encourage everybody out there to shun the "Made in China" items. If I have to pay more for something that is made here in the U.S.A., or in another somewhat trustworthy country, then I'm happy to pay more.
The Washington Post article continues:
It's not just about cheap imports, added Carol Tucker Foreman, a former assistant secretary of agriculture now at the Consumer Federation of America.
"Our farmers and food processors have drooled for years to be able to sell their food to that massive market," Foreman said. "The Chinese counterfeit. They have a serious piracy problem. But we put up with it because we want to sell to them."
There is the problem: greedy American exporters. We have to buy Chinese garbage in order for some of our farmers and processors to have access to that prized 'Chinese market.' Why so many in this country are stuck on the idea of 'opening up new markets' and having limitless growth is beyond me. Nothing is limitless, and the idea that these people are willing to risk the lives of American consumers so they can sell more to the Chinese is disgraceful. It's the same people and the same mentality that gives us the idea that we can accept limitless numbers of immigrants so that the same greedheads can have millions of new customers here at home.
And the toxic Chinese products are not limited to food and personal care products like toothpaste and skin care. Now we read about toxic blankets:
Tainted blankets still on shelves
BLANKETS contaminated with dangerously high levels of a toxic chemical remained on the shelves of Sydney stores yesterday, despite claims by the importer, Sheridan, that the products had never been available to retail customers.
Dozens of the "Indulgence" blankets imported from China were on display at Sheridan's factory outlet in Homebush.
At the company's Arncliffe outlet, a sales assistant said the store had sold out of the blankets just days before.
Responding to the Herald's claims that independent tests on the blankets had revealed levels of the carcinogenic chemical formaldehyde almost 10 times higher than permissible under international standards, a Sheridan spokesman said on Sunday: "The blanket is sold to commercial customers, such as hotels, and is not available to the broader retail consumer market."
Some bloggers have written about the problem. The Town Crier recommends
Victory Gardens! Kill 2 'birds' with one stone...GROW something
...GROW SOMETHING! If you can keep a house plant alive, you can grow something to eat!
Worried about the food supply? GROW something to eat! One tomato plant or one pot full of lettuce - GROW something.
You'll dispense with part of the 'need' for 'guest workers' and you'll know it's safe. Most of your tomatoes at the store are grown in Mexico, where they have no restrictions on the chemicals or cleanliness. Check the boxes if you don't believe it. Besides, don't you think you're supplying Mexico with enough of your dollars?
During World War 2, our parents and grandparents did it. It made a difference of 85 Million 1945 dollars. Don't we have any of the 'stuff' left that those good people had to do the same?''
Good commonsense advice; I agree, and that was one of the suggestions I made in my earlier blog entries on this problem. We can't grow everything we need, but we should be as self-sufficient as possible, and of course by growing our own produce, we can exercise some control over what we are exposed to.
And Mike Tuggle at the Rebellion blog discusses the globalist connection:
Ah, globalism. We don�t have to go to the trouble of manufacturing anything in this country anymore. We let other countries go to all the muss and fuss of making things, and let them send their products over here. That includes cars, food, and even people.
But there seem to be some problems with outsourcing everything:
Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical. Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics. Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria. Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.
[...]
So why not simply stop this flow of substandard, unfit Chinese imports? The answer is a combination of greed and induced helplessness:
"So many U.S. companies are directly or indirectly involved in China now, the commercial interest of the United States these days has become to allow imports to come in as quickly and smoothly as possible," said Robert B. Cassidy, a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China and now director of international trade and services for Kelley Drye Collier Shannon, a Washington law firm.
As a result, the United States finds itself "kowtowing to China," Cassidy said, even as that country keeps sending American consumers adulterated and mislabeled foods.
Ok, so declaring ourselves borderless has created some problems, from residents still loyal to their home countries and peoples, to contaminated food. But as long as the globalist elite makes a killing, it�s our duty to accept it. Objecting the globalist agenda could get you labeled as "protectionist" or, God help you, "xenophobic." So to avoid having anyone calling us a bad name, we�ll put up with these threats to our families. ''
Really, this insane policy of openness which our government and elites have committed us to is a source of danger to us in many ways, the obvious one here being the exposure to unfit and unsafe foods, all considered part of the 'cost of doing business' and expanding our exports to China. Likewise, we are all at the mercy of the 'open borders' mania of the globalizing elites, as in their lust for cheap labor and 'expanding markets' they are willing to let millions of illegal and legal immigrants overrun us, along with many atavistic diseases which our forefathers toiled so long and hard to eradicate from among us -- and now, all their heroic work is being undone by our elites 'open borders' and 'free trade' obsessions.
We can easily protect ourselves from these maladies. That most of our political leaders and cultural elites are opposed to doing so--or even entertaining the possibility of doing so--illustrates a malevolent hositility toward the average native.''
Who will speak up for the American people? Our leaders and politicians evidently don't care about our lives, our health, or our safety, considering that they seem to be willing to do nothing to remove or at least minimize the threats to the American citizenry. Profits seem to be the only concern. The block quote above, from blogger the Audacious Epigone, expresses what had also occurred to me: 'malevolent hostility' is a strong phrase, but if our leaders show no signs of taking any positive measures to protect the lives of citizens, what other conclusion can we come to? We are faced with deciding whether our leadership is hopelessly, shamefully inept, or whether they are just guilty of cold indifference when it comes to our lives and safety.
The WorldNet Daily article with which I opened this piece asks whether China is intentionally trying to poison us. The fact is they have already caused the deaths of a number of people in other countries with toxic cough syrup and toothpaste, as well as causing the deaths of a number of pets in our country. It seems pointless to speculate about their motives, but at the very least we can be sure they are inept and indifferent to human life and safety. Maybe in an overpopulated country such as China, human life is held much more cheaply than it is here, and maybe they simply don't care whether they harm us barbarians here in America. One would think common sense would dictate that it isn't good business practice to sicken or kill your customers, but since we go on merrily importing more of their unfit-for-consumption products, apparently we don't have any problem with buying their deadly wares.
And as I write this, there are many Americans around this country buying more cheap shoddy Chinese goods at their local Wal-Mart or Dollar Stores, willing to risk health and life to save a buck.
As far as our government's silence on this issue, I will be far less inclined to listen when some nannystate government official tells us about the dangers of trans-fats. Please, you government nannies and busybodies: stop obsessing about things like trans-fats while there are much more worrisome substances in all this Chinese garbage our government welcomes. The hypocrisy is staggering. Your credibility is nil when you refuse to deal with the Chinese threat.
Labels: Business Lobby, Chinese Imports, Free Trade, Globalism, Toxic Food
0 comment Tuesday, May 27, 2014 | admin
Today's Lou Dobbs segment on unsafe products, particularly foods, from China, was disturbing, even for those who have no illusions about the standards for food and other products in Third World countries.
The United States is increasingly relying on other nations for its food supply, including communist China. China's food and agricultural injury has an absolutely appalling track record for safety and quality. But that hasn't inspired any American oversight or concern.
In fact, as Kitty Pilgrim reports, that track record could have a devastating impact on Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States is importing tons of food and food additives from China. Imports of Chinese food and agricultural products have soared 400 percent in the last 15 years. Nobody knows how much of it is safe.
MICHAEL DOYLE, CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY: In China, a lot of small farmers that use lots of antibiotics and pesticides that in some instances are not approved for use in the United States. So there's lots of possibilities where things can go wrong.
PILGRIM: The Chinese themselves suffer from contaminated food and water. The U.N. estimates 300 million Chinese every year suffer food poisoning.
Sometimes, it's substandard sanitation, such as the 100 restaurant goers hospitalized after eating bad snails. Sometimes deliberate fraud. A Chinese company was caught making lard from sewage. Farmers were caught adding cancer-causing dye to duck feed to enhance the eggs.
Pollution from industrial production or toxic accidents find their way into the water and subsequently into the food chain in China. Some of that food may be shipped to the United States. Almost all of it, untested and uninspected.
MICHAEL TAYLOR, FORMER FDA OFFICIAL: No amount of inspection is going to be sufficient if we don't have confidence in the conditions under which food is proud, wherever it's produced in the world.
PILGRIM: A look at the FDA violation code lists sanitary citations on imports from China. One entry reads, "A cosmetic product may have been prepared or packed under unsanitary conditions whereby it may have been contaminated with filth."
A food import reads, "The article consists, in whole or in part, of a filthy, putrid or decomposed substance, unfit for food."
Or another, "The article appears to contain hepatitis A virus."
PILGRIM: A congressional hearing this week on the pet food poisoning revealed U.S. importers often don't test the products they import from China. And 99 percent of them go unscreened by the U.S. government and authorities until a consumer gets sick. No one is aware of the problem, Lou.
DOBBS: I just have to stay astonishing. The idea that the federal government continues to -- as our food imports now are rising to just about a little over 20 percent of our total food supply.
The FDA doing almost nothing -- I think 1 percent would be almost nothing -- to inspect the safety of what people are consuming in this country. And there's a great -- you know, hullabaloo about pet food as there should be. But the idea no one is examining this issue. PILGRIM: You know, to read down the list of what they caught is almost scarier, because 99 percent of it wasn't inspected. So you wonder what they didn't catch.
DOBBS: Exactly. And I'm certainly glad -- it's very reassuring after you point that out, Kitty. Thanks very much. Kitty Pilgrim.
Somebody in Washington, wake up, please!
I was really taken aback by this part of Kitty Pilgrim's report:
A look at the FDA violation code lists sanitary citations on imports from China. One entry reads, "A cosmetic product may have been prepared or packed under unsanitary conditions whereby it may have been contaminated with filth."
A food import reads, "The article consists, in whole or in part, of a filthy, putrid or decomposed substance, unfit for food."
Or another, "The article appears to contain hepatitis A virus."
And lard made from sewage? That surpassed anything I might have imagined about the low trustworthiness of products made in China. Beyond disgusting. And to think most of the stuff we import from them goes uninspected.
One hardly knows where to begin: Lou Dobbs concluded his remarks on this segment by pleading for 'somebody in Washington' to 'wake up!' But are they asleep in Washington? Are they so massively clueless and inept and useless that they really are not aware of these things? If so, then they have no business governing anyone or 'representing' us. If, however, they are aware of how things are done in China, and of the general prevalence of squalid Third World standards and lack of oversight, and yet they still avidly push importing more and more from China, then they are more than derelict; the obvious conclusion would be that they do not care about American citizens, about our health and our safety.
I suppose that is not exactly a novel conclusion; the same situation prevails with our insane open borders policy, with its allowing of tens of millions of unknown people entering our country freely, with essentially the full blessing and encouragement of 'our' government. Our government occasionally stages a token raid or two here and there; it seems to be simply a way to deflect criticism or to fool the easily satisfied into believing that they are 'cracking down' on the invasion. But it's a transparent effort; as long as our president keeps praising the invaders and pushing his amnesty in the face of the American people's opposition to it, it seems evident that our government is representing somebody other than the American majority. And given the demonstrable danger of letting unknown millions from hostile Third World countries enter freely, it seems that our lives and safety are counted cheap; a good and honest government would protect its citizens from invasion, per the Constitution. But it seems that our government is so determined to push the borderless world, the flat earth, and to remove all barriers to free trade and movement of peoples, and those ideological goals trump all else, even the lives of citizens. Our lives and safety are apparently something they are willing to risk in pursuit of their goals.
So what is there for us to do, apart from joining Lou Dobbs in his plaintive call for someone in Washington to 'wake up'? I am rapidly losing faith in letter-writing or calls to my representatives in Congress; more often than not, one gets a snarky aide, and it's not certain that these people actually pass the messages on. Knowing the leftist leanings of my elected 'representatives' and the kinds of condescending canned e-mails I usually get back does not inspire confidence.
What then can we do? It seems vain to try to get people to stop buying the cheapo Chinese merchandise; many people, especially Republicans, worship at the Wal-Mart altar; their fierce defense of Wally World is bizarre. I haven't quite figured out why so many Republicans react to criticism of Wal-Mart as they would react to an attack on the character of their mother. The nearest I can come to an explanation is that: cheap consumer products are the highest good in life to some people, and maybe more importantly, the 'liberals' hate Wal-Mart, so by gosh, Republicans are determined to love Wal-Mart and defend it with their last breath.
(And by the way: what do we make of this strange Wal-Mart story?)
But no doubt the Wal-Martians are one of the reasons why we have this huge trade deficit with China.
I admit to having bought at Wal-Mart in the past, but often the things I bought were of shoddy, inferior quality, and the few bucks I saved did not balance out having to replace the items when they failed or fell apart, a few months later. Buying at Wal-Mart is being penny-wise and pound-foolish. And it also enriches our Chinese foes and weakens us in relation to them, as the trade deficit grows and grows.
Still to each his own; buy cheap junk if you must, and if you don't care about the larger issues at stake. But on the question of food safety, and of other products like cosmetics which are applied to the human body, there should be no disagreement about the need for assurance that these products are safe and sanitary. We need to know that the food products are not laden with some kind of toxin like the melamine in the wheat gluten, or that they are not otherwise unfit for human consumption. But how can we expect such a reassurance? China recently thwarted the entrance of our FDA inspectors into their country to inspect the sources of the contamination. Our government is engaged in some kind of bizarre pretense that China is a friendly nation, and that they are our coequals. Ridiculous; just because they are a populous nation with a large military does not mean that they are trustworthy, or that the standards of hygiene are anywhere near what we have achieved here in the U.S. All this open trade and immigration from Third World countries is done at our risk. We are opening the doors to Third World standards, which will inevitably mean the spread of disease and contamination. Openness to other such nations, whether via trade or immigration, can only benefit them and not us; it can only drag us downward, but probably not raise them upward. Openness to such nations is a risk to us, not a benefit. It may be a benefit to the corporate globalists who profit from all this, but it is no bargain for common citizens.
Now there are questions that the melamine which caused many pet deaths may have entered the human food chain
via being fed to farm animals destined for the table. It was inevitable, really; that was my first thought when the discovery of the toxins in pet food was reported. But I am not seeing much coverage of this issue, and little discussion of it. Why? Are people not aware, or are we too practiced at hiding our heads in the sand? So many people prefer to plug their ears and close their eyes rather than deal with unpleasant realities, especially if those realities call for some kind of action, or even for taking a difficult stand.
I am not sure what we can do about this, except to be very vigilant about the products we buy, especially foods and cosmetics. Reading labels is a first step, but one has to be able to trust that the labels are correct and truthful; I honestly don't trust corrupt Third World countries to provide full disclosure on the labels, and it appears that they are not even required to do so, as American companies are. And again, even if the information on the packaging lists the ingredients, for example, 'wheat gluten,' this does not tell us where the wheat gluten originated. The pet foods recalled were made in Canada. Most of us would make an assumption that products from a First World nation like Canada would adhere to standards comparable to our own, but it appears we cannot even be sure that Canadian products are not made using ingredients from an unsafe country. So how can we be really sure? We can pick locally-produced food as much as possible, and some of us can grow our own produce in gardens. We can use fewer canned and processed foods, which is no doubt a good idea in general. But at some point, we have to take a blind leap of faith about the source of what we eat; we might be able to reduce our risks somewhat, but not eliminate them.
Now it's true that life is risk; there is no way we can live one day in this world without taking risks of some sort. To assume that we can make life risk-free is childish, and it's what liberals believe, with their penchant for nannystate-ism, with laws against trans-fats and so on. But still, our foolhardy government is seemingly tempting fate with many of these reckless policies like untrammeled trade with suspect countries, and with our borders unguarded, and our actively soliciting immigrants from disease-ridden areas of the world.
We can't eliminate all risks, but resigning ourselves to unnecessary risks is playing Russian roulette, with the bullet provided courtesy of our government and its foolish policies.
The United States is increasingly relying on other nations for its food supply, including communist China. China's food and agricultural injury has an absolutely appalling track record for safety and quality. But that hasn't inspired any American oversight or concern.
In fact, as Kitty Pilgrim reports, that track record could have a devastating impact on Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States is importing tons of food and food additives from China. Imports of Chinese food and agricultural products have soared 400 percent in the last 15 years. Nobody knows how much of it is safe.
MICHAEL DOYLE, CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY: In China, a lot of small farmers that use lots of antibiotics and pesticides that in some instances are not approved for use in the United States. So there's lots of possibilities where things can go wrong.
PILGRIM: The Chinese themselves suffer from contaminated food and water. The U.N. estimates 300 million Chinese every year suffer food poisoning.
Sometimes, it's substandard sanitation, such as the 100 restaurant goers hospitalized after eating bad snails. Sometimes deliberate fraud. A Chinese company was caught making lard from sewage. Farmers were caught adding cancer-causing dye to duck feed to enhance the eggs.
Pollution from industrial production or toxic accidents find their way into the water and subsequently into the food chain in China. Some of that food may be shipped to the United States. Almost all of it, untested and uninspected.
MICHAEL TAYLOR, FORMER FDA OFFICIAL: No amount of inspection is going to be sufficient if we don't have confidence in the conditions under which food is proud, wherever it's produced in the world.
PILGRIM: A look at the FDA violation code lists sanitary citations on imports from China. One entry reads, "A cosmetic product may have been prepared or packed under unsanitary conditions whereby it may have been contaminated with filth."
A food import reads, "The article consists, in whole or in part, of a filthy, putrid or decomposed substance, unfit for food."
Or another, "The article appears to contain hepatitis A virus."
PILGRIM: A congressional hearing this week on the pet food poisoning revealed U.S. importers often don't test the products they import from China. And 99 percent of them go unscreened by the U.S. government and authorities until a consumer gets sick. No one is aware of the problem, Lou.
DOBBS: I just have to stay astonishing. The idea that the federal government continues to -- as our food imports now are rising to just about a little over 20 percent of our total food supply.
The FDA doing almost nothing -- I think 1 percent would be almost nothing -- to inspect the safety of what people are consuming in this country. And there's a great -- you know, hullabaloo about pet food as there should be. But the idea no one is examining this issue. PILGRIM: You know, to read down the list of what they caught is almost scarier, because 99 percent of it wasn't inspected. So you wonder what they didn't catch.
DOBBS: Exactly. And I'm certainly glad -- it's very reassuring after you point that out, Kitty. Thanks very much. Kitty Pilgrim.
Somebody in Washington, wake up, please!
I was really taken aback by this part of Kitty Pilgrim's report:
A look at the FDA violation code lists sanitary citations on imports from China. One entry reads, "A cosmetic product may have been prepared or packed under unsanitary conditions whereby it may have been contaminated with filth."
A food import reads, "The article consists, in whole or in part, of a filthy, putrid or decomposed substance, unfit for food."
Or another, "The article appears to contain hepatitis A virus."
And lard made from sewage? That surpassed anything I might have imagined about the low trustworthiness of products made in China. Beyond disgusting. And to think most of the stuff we import from them goes uninspected.
One hardly knows where to begin: Lou Dobbs concluded his remarks on this segment by pleading for 'somebody in Washington' to 'wake up!' But are they asleep in Washington? Are they so massively clueless and inept and useless that they really are not aware of these things? If so, then they have no business governing anyone or 'representing' us. If, however, they are aware of how things are done in China, and of the general prevalence of squalid Third World standards and lack of oversight, and yet they still avidly push importing more and more from China, then they are more than derelict; the obvious conclusion would be that they do not care about American citizens, about our health and our safety.
I suppose that is not exactly a novel conclusion; the same situation prevails with our insane open borders policy, with its allowing of tens of millions of unknown people entering our country freely, with essentially the full blessing and encouragement of 'our' government. Our government occasionally stages a token raid or two here and there; it seems to be simply a way to deflect criticism or to fool the easily satisfied into believing that they are 'cracking down' on the invasion. But it's a transparent effort; as long as our president keeps praising the invaders and pushing his amnesty in the face of the American people's opposition to it, it seems evident that our government is representing somebody other than the American majority. And given the demonstrable danger of letting unknown millions from hostile Third World countries enter freely, it seems that our lives and safety are counted cheap; a good and honest government would protect its citizens from invasion, per the Constitution. But it seems that our government is so determined to push the borderless world, the flat earth, and to remove all barriers to free trade and movement of peoples, and those ideological goals trump all else, even the lives of citizens. Our lives and safety are apparently something they are willing to risk in pursuit of their goals.
So what is there for us to do, apart from joining Lou Dobbs in his plaintive call for someone in Washington to 'wake up'? I am rapidly losing faith in letter-writing or calls to my representatives in Congress; more often than not, one gets a snarky aide, and it's not certain that these people actually pass the messages on. Knowing the leftist leanings of my elected 'representatives' and the kinds of condescending canned e-mails I usually get back does not inspire confidence.
What then can we do? It seems vain to try to get people to stop buying the cheapo Chinese merchandise; many people, especially Republicans, worship at the Wal-Mart altar; their fierce defense of Wally World is bizarre. I haven't quite figured out why so many Republicans react to criticism of Wal-Mart as they would react to an attack on the character of their mother. The nearest I can come to an explanation is that: cheap consumer products are the highest good in life to some people, and maybe more importantly, the 'liberals' hate Wal-Mart, so by gosh, Republicans are determined to love Wal-Mart and defend it with their last breath.
(And by the way: what do we make of this strange Wal-Mart story?)
But no doubt the Wal-Martians are one of the reasons why we have this huge trade deficit with China.
I admit to having bought at Wal-Mart in the past, but often the things I bought were of shoddy, inferior quality, and the few bucks I saved did not balance out having to replace the items when they failed or fell apart, a few months later. Buying at Wal-Mart is being penny-wise and pound-foolish. And it also enriches our Chinese foes and weakens us in relation to them, as the trade deficit grows and grows.
Still to each his own; buy cheap junk if you must, and if you don't care about the larger issues at stake. But on the question of food safety, and of other products like cosmetics which are applied to the human body, there should be no disagreement about the need for assurance that these products are safe and sanitary. We need to know that the food products are not laden with some kind of toxin like the melamine in the wheat gluten, or that they are not otherwise unfit for human consumption. But how can we expect such a reassurance? China recently thwarted the entrance of our FDA inspectors into their country to inspect the sources of the contamination. Our government is engaged in some kind of bizarre pretense that China is a friendly nation, and that they are our coequals. Ridiculous; just because they are a populous nation with a large military does not mean that they are trustworthy, or that the standards of hygiene are anywhere near what we have achieved here in the U.S. All this open trade and immigration from Third World countries is done at our risk. We are opening the doors to Third World standards, which will inevitably mean the spread of disease and contamination. Openness to other such nations, whether via trade or immigration, can only benefit them and not us; it can only drag us downward, but probably not raise them upward. Openness to such nations is a risk to us, not a benefit. It may be a benefit to the corporate globalists who profit from all this, but it is no bargain for common citizens.
Now there are questions that the melamine which caused many pet deaths may have entered the human food chain
via being fed to farm animals destined for the table. It was inevitable, really; that was my first thought when the discovery of the toxins in pet food was reported. But I am not seeing much coverage of this issue, and little discussion of it. Why? Are people not aware, or are we too practiced at hiding our heads in the sand? So many people prefer to plug their ears and close their eyes rather than deal with unpleasant realities, especially if those realities call for some kind of action, or even for taking a difficult stand.
I am not sure what we can do about this, except to be very vigilant about the products we buy, especially foods and cosmetics. Reading labels is a first step, but one has to be able to trust that the labels are correct and truthful; I honestly don't trust corrupt Third World countries to provide full disclosure on the labels, and it appears that they are not even required to do so, as American companies are. And again, even if the information on the packaging lists the ingredients, for example, 'wheat gluten,' this does not tell us where the wheat gluten originated. The pet foods recalled were made in Canada. Most of us would make an assumption that products from a First World nation like Canada would adhere to standards comparable to our own, but it appears we cannot even be sure that Canadian products are not made using ingredients from an unsafe country. So how can we be really sure? We can pick locally-produced food as much as possible, and some of us can grow our own produce in gardens. We can use fewer canned and processed foods, which is no doubt a good idea in general. But at some point, we have to take a blind leap of faith about the source of what we eat; we might be able to reduce our risks somewhat, but not eliminate them.
Now it's true that life is risk; there is no way we can live one day in this world without taking risks of some sort. To assume that we can make life risk-free is childish, and it's what liberals believe, with their penchant for nannystate-ism, with laws against trans-fats and so on. But still, our foolhardy government is seemingly tempting fate with many of these reckless policies like untrammeled trade with suspect countries, and with our borders unguarded, and our actively soliciting immigrants from disease-ridden areas of the world.
We can't eliminate all risks, but resigning ourselves to unnecessary risks is playing Russian roulette, with the bullet provided courtesy of our government and its foolish policies.
Labels: Food Safety, Free Trade, Globalism, Government