China's Chernobyl: SARS Can Spread on Imported Goods

Newsmax | 5/5/03 | Charles Smith

[CometBaby]

Oh really? Every seen the amount of goods coming out of China via aircraft? Thousands of tons of cheap Chinese products arrive daily!

Learn to read. My post said: The greatest majority of imports from china come via ship and take a minimum of 3 weeks. I never claimed that everything comes in by ship .. and I stand by my comment that the *greatest majority* does. Only something extremely valuable and expensive would be air mailed.

If you are that worried about it .. don't buy extremely expensive and valuable items from China that have come in via air. :-)

[CometBaby]

That's a valid point.

[CometBaby]

My husband and I have traveled to china three times and no, we are not involved in *any*, much less several, large investments there.

These trips were made to visit close friends who live and work in Hong Kong. He and my husband have discussed the possibility of a joint venture, right here in the USA.

Not that this is any of your business. :-)

[InShanghai]

JIT- Our company has air-freighted product (at a loss) to keep up with customer demands. Not a good way to do business but when you're in a bind it's gotta be done. I'm sure tons of stuff is imported into the US everyday by air, but it isn't the preferred method.

[montag813]

BAN ALL CHINESE IMPORTS.

[montag813]

Two Russian researchers who recently returned from China have stated that they feel the virus was artificially created and released accidentally

My wife has asserted this from DAY ONE, and I agree with her. The odds are it is too perfect a coronavirus and too prone to rapid mutation to be nature-borne.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Learn to read. My post said: The greatest majority of imports from china come via ship and take a minimum of 3 weeks. I never claimed that everything comes in by ship

The greatest majority comes by ship? No kidding? You mean cargo that arrives at the Yang Ming, Evergreen and Hanjin terminals, to name a few? I am stunned. Stunned I tell you. And so what if the greater majority come via ship? Does that mean that the tons of cargo that arrive via aircraft is all OK? And what about the crews that drive those super cargo ships with cheap chinese goods. You think they are all required to stay on ship while it's parked in port?

My point is, is that huge amounts of cargo come from China via aircraft, and compound that with aircraft full of people from China that arrive *daily*.

I would guess, the people would be a greater threat of spreading SARS than cargo, regardless of the means of delivery.

You seem to want to argue about which carriers, by what means, transport the most cargo. LOL!

[snickeroon]

This news begs a number of questions. For instance, how many express shipments arrive in this country from affected regions in China on a daily basis? Are they being checked?

If Berkley (oh, the IRONY), is refusing to allow Chinese students to attend summer classes, what do they know that we don't?

How many cases of "atypical" pneumonia and "virus of unknown origin" are popping up in the U.S. And COULD they be mis-diagnosed SARS cases since one of the previous indicators has been recent TRAVEL to those areas, instead of contact with POSSIBLE contaminated source....In other words, is there any chance we could be knee deep in a sudden SARS pandemic in this nation (among others), before anyone is aware that passengers aren't the only concerns....

[Joe Hadenuf]

My husband and I have traveled to china three times and no, we are not involved in *any*, much less several, large investments there.

He and my husband have discussed the possibility of a joint venture, right here in the USA.

Say no mo. I thought I smelled a conflict, or special interest involving money. Now I understand your position.

[HighRoadToChina]

Hi Jerseygirl,

You beat me to this! Thanks for posting!

Let Freedom Reign! And boycott all products Made in China.

[BubbaJunebug]

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.....

A ton of product as you mention would cost you 20K plus to ship air freight.... 6.3 billion people on this planet...and 400 have died from SARS...If I were you I'd be more worried about some teenager running over you in a parking lot of your local mall.

[Calpernia]

Fedex uses air too. I think UPS does also. I would assume postal mail is airfreight. I think, postal mail may even contract out to Fedex. So that is via air.

[jerseygirl]

This is scary stuff. A friend of mine who works in a furniture store told me that when new items are unloaded from China, occasionally critters such as insects will fly or crawl out of the boxes...not to say that SARs virus would live long enough - but definitely needs to be investigated.

[Calpernia]

I know, old post, old reply here. But, if we did get our old trusty factories up and running again....don't you think having all those jobs available again would outway the prices of homemade American goods?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Yes, I think a resurgence of American manufacturing is a real possibility. And the borders would finally be sealed.

But it's a high price to pay for the rest of the world.

[Boot Hill]

"Two Russian researchers who recently returned from China have stated that they feel the virus was artificially created and released accidentally."

--Boot Hill

[Calpernia]

>>>But it's a high price to pay for the rest of the world

Maybe. I wouldn't say turn our backs on the world. But rather finally jump start their economies rather than being dependent on us? Kinda like finally taking the training wheels off the child's bike. (just pondering here)

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Sounds right. That's what we've said our intentions were all along.

[cmak9]

SARS has also reportedly infected the families of top-ranking communist officials

Ahhh, justice!

[jerseygirl]

Some factors which might suggest this include 1.) China's secrecy surrounding the initial (numerous) cases 2.)the virus not matching up with any known human OR animal virus 3.) the initial cases apparently occurring near a medical research facility where experiments were done on genetically altered viruses. I'd like to know what the Russians observed and based their impressions upon.