Defective Products from China
Tainted and defective imports from China have been in the headlines all year, and the problem seems to be growing, or at least becoming more publicized, rather than improving.
While the obvious answer would be to halt all imports from China, it's not as easy as it sounds. Many products are virtually unobtainable from any other source. For instance, China produces 90% of Vitamin C sold in America, and 50% of the penicillin in the world. Large retailers, such as Wal-Mart, purchase a large portion of their discounted goods from China and/or have operated factories there where the labor is cheap..
Pet food: The scandal that started it all, that first brought serious media attention to tainted products from China, was the melamine contamination of pet foods. Melamine was added to low quality wheat gluten to make it appear to have more protein. Melamine causes kidney failure, and the tainted pet food has killed thousands of dogs and cats.
Melamine tainted feed was also fed to hogs grown for human consumption.
Fresh ginger: July 29, 2007, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced a recall of fresh ginger from China. The ginger is contaminated with a neurotoxin called aldicarb sulfoxide, which is used as a pesticide.
Read more about tainted Ginger from China
According to the CDPH, "Symptoms of aldicarb poisoning in humans are likely to occur within the first hour following exposure. Ingestion of foods contaminated with aldicarb at low levels can cause flu-like symptoms (nausea, headache, blurred vision) which disappear quickly, usually within 5 or 6 hours. However, at higher levels, ingestion of aldicarb contaminated food can also cause dizziness, salivation, excessive sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle stiffness and twitching, and difficulty in breathing."
Fish: Beginning in September, 2006, over 6,000 pounds of puffer fish, from China, went to wholesalers in California, Illinois, and Hawaii, and was then sold to stores and restaurants. Puffer fish can cause tetrodotoxin poisoning, leading to severe illness and death. The boxes of puffer fish were mislabeled as monkfish, which is safe to eat.
Other fish, imported from China, has been found to be contaminated with antibiotics and cancer causing agents.
Toothpaste: Americans have been warned not to use any toothpaste that is made in China, because several brands have been found to contain diethylene glycol, a toxic solvent found in anti-freeze.
Sold as to European companies as glycerin, a harmless sweetener, diethylene glycol, has found its way into cough syrups around the world, killing hundreds of people and causing scares of new epidemic diseases.
Diethylene glycol causes acute kidney failure, and can be accompanied by symptoms including vomiting, fever, swelling throughout the body, respiratory failure, facial paralysis, and brain injury. For many it brings a slow and agonizing death.
Toys: Among the toys from China recalled this year, because they contain lead paint, are more than 1.5 million Thomas and Friends miniature railway sets, 83 types of toys from Mattel's Fisher-Price unit, millions of children's jewelry items, and over 100,000 military toys carried by Toys 'R' Us.
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Lead poisoning in children can cause:
- Learning disabilities
- Language and speech problems
- Hearing damage
- Behavioral problems
- Neurological damage
- Poor muscle coordination
- Decreased bone and muscle growth
- Damage to internal organs
- Seizures
- Death
Tires: Tires made by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company, in China, and sold in America for use on light trucks, SUVs and vans, lack sufficient gum strips to prevent tread separation, causing blowouts. The defective tires were distributed by Foreign Tire Sales, and sold under several names including Compass, Westlake, and YKS.
What can we do? These examples are just a tiny portion of the defective products exported from China and distributed in the United States and around the world. The FDA has admitted that it does not have the resources to protect us from tainted imports, and that only 1% of imports are inspected.
Currently there is no way to know where most of the food on store shelves actually comes from. Country of origin labeling (COOL) would allow consumers to decide for themselves whether or not to purchase foods from questionable sources. Companies, such as Wal-Mart, who stand to lose money if the law is implemented, have been fighting COOL.
The head of China's equivalent of the FDA was executed for taking bribes and approving defective products, leading many of us here in America to wonder what kind of improvements we might see in our own FDA if officials were held personally accountable for the deaths that they have caused.
Author:
Sandra Duke
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed by a defective product from China, contact an experienced product liability attorney today.
