The Major Flaw in China's Melamine Crackdown

Business Week ^ | November 20 | Bruce Einhorn

[nickcarraway]

Finally, some additional numbers from the Chinese government about the extent of the poisoned milk scandal. According to the Ministry of Health, 50,741 Chinese children sickened by the tainted milk have been released from hospitals in the past two months. Another 1,041 remain hospitalized. Conspicuously absent from the Xinhua report: The number of deaths. When the story first broke in September, the media reported four children had died as a result of having consumed large amounts of melamine milk. Are we to believe that of the tens of thousands of other children sickened, no one else died?

SNIP

Meanwhile, the Chinese government now is vowing to take steps to make sure the scandal doesn’t happen again. The Health Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry will both increase their oversight of the dairy industry. As the AP points out, though, we’ve seen this sort of thing before. The government did something similar after last year’s Made-in-China scandals, for instance. “After an initial unwillingness to acknowledge problems, authorities threw themselves into a campaign to protect export industries and bolster the country’s reputation as the world’s manufacturing base,” the AP reports. Going back further, the government behaved similarly during the SARS outbreak. But what sort of impact has the government had with these conspicuous crackdowns?

We can’t really know, since the Chinese media isn’t free and the government isn’t open. Or, as the director of Asia studies at the Council of Foreign Relations, China expert Elizabeth C. Economy, “As China’s global presence grows, the world increasingly is looking to China to assume greater responsibility and leadership on issues as wide-ranging as the global financial crisis, Darfur, and climate change.

[cripplecreek]

One flaw is the fact that the country is seriously contaminated with melamine and God knows how many other toxins.

It wasn’t so long ago that a Chinese official admitted that their soil, groundwater, and air are contaminated. That doesn’t do much for my confidence in any chinese products. They spray melamine on their crops and that means it ends up in virtually every food product to come out of the place.

[Joan Kerrey]

since the Chinese media isn’t free and the government isn’t open ____________________________ And the reason why I buy nothing I know is from China, NOTHING AT ALL.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Does anyone know if there’s a way to distinguish produce from China from American produce?

I know that if there’s a 9 at the start of the label on produce, it’s certified organic, but that’s all I know.

Any ideas?

[metmom]

“After an initial unwillingness to acknowledge problems, authorities threw themselves into a campaign to protect export industries and bolster the country’s reputation as the world’s manufacturing base,” the AP reports.

Protecting their own people's health wouldn't enter into it, ya think?