Posted on 05/05/2003 2:27:40 PM PDT by jerseygirl
China's Chernobyl: SARS Can Spread on Imported Goods Charles R. Smith Monday, May 5, 2003 Medical researchers have discovered that the SARS virus can survive on common surfaces at room temperature for days. The discovery is a shock to importers of Chinese-made goods because it is clearly possible to contract the disease from products contaminated by infected workers. The shocking find by medical scientists working on the SARS virus also showed that common detergents failed to kill the disease, suggesting that efforts to sterilize contaminated areas and goods may be futile. Japanese researchers have also discovered that the SARS virus can survive long periods of intense cold.
"It's the first time we have hard data on the survival of the virus. Before, we were just speculating," stated the World Health Organization's top researcher Klaus Stohr.
The discovery by teams of scientists working in Germany, Japan, Hong Kong and China showed that human contact with infected surfaces can spread the disease. The possibility that SARS may spread via contaminated products exported by China has already led to a quiet shutdown of electronic and consumer product exports to Japan.
Manmade Virus?
The information comes on the heels of silence by American CDC officials to inquiries about the origin of the SARS virus. Some scientists contend that the disease is a naturally occurring variation of the corona virus. Other researchers are not convinced and have raised questions as to whether the virus was artificially created in China.
Two Russian researchers who recently returned from China have stated that they feel the virus was artificially created and released accidentally. The first known case of SARS to appear in China was in a city with a major Chinese biological laboratory that operates inside a state-run university.
Chinese health officials have known about SARS outbreaks since November 2002 but did not release information about the highly contagious disease to the World Health Organization (WHO) as required by several international treaties.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control reports directly to Beijing through the central Communist Party and does not give information to outside organizations unless ordered to do so. The central party did not release information on SARS to WHO until March 2003.
The slow reaction by the top communist leadership has brought accusations that SARS is China's Chernobyl. The implication is that the communist leadership was afraid to release information critical to controlling the outbreak of the SARS virus for either military or political reasons. The result has forced Beijing to quarantine over 16,000 people, ban movies, close restaurants and seal off several major hospitals.
According to WHO, more than 6,000 people have contracted SARS and more than 400 have died in 27 countries.
Dangerous Dictatorships
Several intelligence and law enforcement officials have openly expressed concerns that trusting the Chinese Communist Party to live up to WHO treaty regulations may be a false hope. The officials from various Western nations noted that the Chinese regime's response was dangerous to other nations and may very well be reason to expel it from the World Trade Organization.
SARS has also reportedly infected the families of top-ranking communist officials. Wang Jun, chairman of the Chinese arms company Polytechnologies, has reportedly contracted the disease. Wang is best known for his visit to the Clinton White House in 1996 with convicted China-gate figure Charlie "Ya lin" Trie.
They are saying 4 days to be specific. The greatest majority of imports from china come via ship and take a minimum of 3 weeks.
scientists working on the SARS virus also showed that common detergents failed to kill the disease, suggesting that efforts to sterilize contaminated areas and goods may be futile
This fails to mention that scientists also discovered that ordinary household disinfectant DOES kill it.
Two Russian researchers who recently returned from China have stated that they feel the virus was artificially created and released accidentally
Don't you just love those *unnamed* sources whose *speculation* they are citing here?
China withheld information on SARS and in my opinion, they could very well still be underplaying it. They have not lived up to their WHO obligations. Now this is news and this is not speculation. Why doesn't this outfit just stick with the facts and knock off all the half-truths and speculation?
As usual, the inventor is Dr. Nick Riviera. His latest creation is an orange juice squeezer called the ``Juice Loosener''. Homer orders one.In Osaka, Japan, a Japanese assembly line worker with the flu coughs into the box destined for Homer Simpson before sealing it.
``6 to 8 weeks later''... The juice loosener arrives, and Homer is immediately greeted with a green cloud of germs.
This is ugly......
Oh really? Every seen the amount of goods coming out of China via aircraft? Thousands of tons of cheap Chinese products arrive daily!
And it takes a matter of hours for a jumbo jet to arrive with tons of Chinese product, and potential human carriers......And they arrive many times, daily.....
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