November 2008
60 posts
FOOD SAFETY: Melamine concern in United States as... →
For all the outrage about Chinese melamine, what American consumers and government agencies have studiously failed to scrutinize is how much melamine has pervaded our own food system.
Illegally imported clothes from china seized at... →
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced Friday that they seized a shipment of illegally imported clothes from China on Nov. 19 at the Port of Oakland.
China's Baidu vows overhaul after search scandal -... →
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Internet search leader Baidu Inc (BIDU.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Friday it will overhaul operations after state media said it allowed unlicensed medical services to buy high search rankings to win more customers.
China Partly Blames Foreign Designs For Unsafe... →
BEIJING (AFP)—China on Tuesday laid part of the blame for poor product safety on foreign companies whose designs were flawed, as millions of parents around the world prepared to buy Chinese-made toys for Christmas.
Pollution grows in Yellow River -- Shanghai Daily →
POLLUTION has spread to one third of the Yellow River system, prompting a Chinese water resources official to call for urgent action to stop pollution of rivers spreading and worsening.
China's censors cool on Guns N' Roses democracy... →
SHANGHAI (AFP) – China’s Internet censors appeared to be trying to block fans Monday from accessing websites related to Guns N’ Roses’ first album in 17 years, which is provocatively titled “Chinese Democracy”.
Broker admits false labeling of fish from China →
47-year-old Bellevue man admitted in court Friday that he bought more than 65 tons of flatfish called turbot (TUR’ bet) from China and re-labeled it as halibut.
China to Reform Milk Industry Within a Year -... →
BEIJING — China aims to fully reform its dairy industry within a year to support the redevelopment of the sector following the melamine scandal, the country’s economic planners said.
Report: China stealing 'vast amounts' of data from... →
China is continuing to penetrate U.S. computer networks and stealing secrets from companies and government agencies, a report to Congress warns.
Over 1,000 melamine babies still in China... →
BEIJING (Reuters) – Over a thousand Chinese infants are still in hospital receiving treatment for kidney damage caused by tainted milk, China’s Health Ministry said on Thursday, more than two months after the scandal broke.
China calls for dairy industry reform - UPI.com →
BEIJING, Nov. 20 (UPI) — The Chinese government is seeking major reform of its dairy industry in the aftermath of a tainted milk powder scandal, authorities say.
Bloomberg.com: U.S.-China Food, Drug Safety Work... →
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) — A U.S. plan to allow quality testers in China to certify the safety of food and drugs exported to America will take “many years” to complete, said Michael Leavitt, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
As Global Recession Threatens, China Pulls Back on... →
SHANGHAI — In February, the Fuan textile factory became one of the first major casualties of China’s anti-pollution campaign when the multimillion-dollar company was shut down for dumping waste from dyes into a neighboring river and turning it red.
U.S. says food, drug inspection access in China... →
BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. officials opened the first overseas Food and Drug Administration office in Beijing on Wednesday as they gear up for a long battle to ensure the quality of food, drug and feed imports from China.
“We solemnly apologize to consumers”
– Han Wei, director of egg producer Hanwei Eggs
The Associated Press: US says will work with China... →
BEIJING (AP) — The United States, preparing to open its first Food and Drug Administration offices outside the country, said Tuesday that it has embarked on a new strategy with Beijing to ensure that Chinese products imported into the U.S. are safe.
More child deaths linked to China's melamine... →
The death toll in the melamine scandal may be higher than China’s government suggests based on a recent revelation that at least five more children died after drinking infant formula tainted with the industrial chemical.
The Associated Press: FDA to open China offices... →
BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will open three offices in China this week in an unprecedented effort to improve the safety of exports headed to America amid recurring product safety scares.
GMANews.TV - Europe, China sign consumer safety... →
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union and China signed an agreement Monday to cooperate better on consumer safety in the wake of high-profile scares such as contaminated Chinese milk and dangerous toy cars.
China's noxious coal fires add to global warming -... →
Some have been burning for more than a century; others range over thousands of miles.
RUJIGOU, CHINA — The barren hillsides give a hint of the inferno underfoot. White smoke billows from cracks in the earth, venting a sulfurous rotten smell into the air. The rocky ground is hot to the touch, and heat penetrates the soles of shoes.
Lawsuit Planned Over Tainted Milk →
The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that Chinese families are filing a class action lawsuit against one dairy in the hopes that the government there will initiate compensation payments to the tens of thousands of families affected by China’s widespread and ongoing melamine tainting scandal.
Deaths uncounted in China's tainted milk scandal -... →
LITI VILLAGE, China — Li Xiaokai died of kidney failure on the old wooden bed in the family farmhouse, just before dawn on a drizzly Sept. 10.
China quality watchdog denies melamine-tainted... →
China’s quality watchdog on Friday denied reports that flour shipped to Kyrgyzstan last month contained melamine, the industrial chemical at the heart of China’s milk contamination scandal.
China recalls needles that snapped in infant's... →
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Friday it had recalled a batch of disposable medical needles after one snapped when inserted into an infant’s vein, the latest in a string of food and product safety problems.
The Associated Press: China faces new problem:... →
BEIJING (AP) — China faces a new problem with the tainted milk that has sickened babies and battered public confidence: How to get rid of the toxic stuff.
Trader to face court over 34 tonnes of tainted... →
The trader who imported the Chinese milk that has tested positive for a dangerous chemical is to be prosecuted, it was announced yesterday.
F.D.A. Detains Chinese Imports for Testing -... →
Candy, snacks, bakery products, pet food and other Chinese products that contain milk will be detained at the border until tests prove that they are not contaminated, the federal government announced Thursday.
China admits exporting tainted gluten; some pork... →
Chinese authorities today acknowledged what the rest of the world has known for weeks: Chinese companies exported pet-food ingredients contaminated with melamine to North America, USA TODAY’s Calum MacLeod reports.
BBC NEWS | 'import alert' on China food →
US authorities have issued a nationwide “import alert” for Chinese-made food products in the wake of the melamine contamination scandal.
Contaminant found in fish feed from China -... →
SHANGHAI: Hong Kong food inspectors have found fish feed imported from China contaminated with high levels of melamine, a toxic chemical that has recently been blamed for tainting Chinese-produced milk, eggs and other food products.
China recalls haemorrhoid drug on safety fears:... →
BEIJING (AFP) – China recalled a haemorrhoid medicine on Wednesday after it was linked to liver problems, state media said, in the latest safety incident to tarnish the country’s food and drug sector.
AFP: China wants to make bricks from toxic milk:... →
BEIJING (AFP) — A south China city is considering using milk at the centre of a poisoned food scandal to make bricks as a cheap and clean way of disposing of the tainted products, state media reported Tuesday.
Retracing the Path Toxic Powder Took To Food in... →
SHIJIAZHUANG, China — Xue Jianzhong never posted a sign on his ground-floor shop, but somehow everyone knew what he was selling. Customers from all over this dairy farming region in the northeastern province of Hebei flocked to Xue’s dusty street to buy special concoctions that he said would make milk more nutritious — and more marketable.
“Developed countries shoulder the duty and responsibility to tackle climate...”
– Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the opening of a conference Friday
China tells rich polluting nations to change... →
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said rich nations must abandon their “unsustainable lifestyle” to fight climate change and expand help to poor nations bearing the brunt of worsening droughts and rising sea levels.
U.S. marshals seize tainted blood thinner in Ohio... →
(CNN) — Federal authorities said Thursday they have seized some of an Ohio company’s supplies of contaminated blood thinner containing material from China.
The Associated Press: China stops production at... →
BEIJING (AP) — China’s drug safety watchdog said Thursday it has stopped all production at a company in northeastern China after an herbal injection it sold was suspected of causing the deaths of three people.
Watch60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley and crew got roughed up at a Chinese dump while working on a story on toxic electronic waste.
Following The Trail Of Toxic E-Waste, 60 Minutes... →
(CBS) When 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley and his crew went to China to record the black market dismantling of electronic waste, or “e-waste,” the experience was almost as hazardous for the 60 Minutes team as working with the toxic material is for poor Chinese workers.
China stops production at drug company - Yahoo!... →
BEIJING – China’s drug safety watchdog said Thursday it has stopped all production at a company in northeastern China after an herbal injection it sold was suspected of causing the deaths of three people.
China points finger at foreign milk products -... →
BEIJING (Reuters) - China, embroiled in a tainted milk scandal that has made thousands of infants sick, has published a list of foreign companies that failed to meet quality standards for imported products ranging from milk powder to rosewater.
Court orders film copyright guards in China-made... →
A US court has sided with Hollywood film studios by ordering Gowell Electronics Ltd. to build piracy-thwarting technology into DVD players made by the China-based firm.
The Associated Press: China detains factory owner... →
BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in a Chinese city have detained the owner of a feed processing factory suspected of selling chicken feed tainted with an industrial chemical that was later found in eggs, state media reported.
“Black nests of gangsters”
– Agriculture Ministry official Wang Zhicai, referring to dairy producers who add melamine to milk
Tainting of Milk Is Open Secret in China - WSJ.com →
ZHANGZHUANG, China — Before melamine-laced milk killed and sickened Chinese babies and led to recalls around the world, the routine spiking of milk with illicit substances was an open secret in China’s dairy regions, according to the accounts of farmers and others with knowledge of the industry.
China's Melamine Woes Likely to Get Worse - TIME →
First, a tainted product emerges, killing some and sickening many more. Its origin is traced to China, where a combination of greed and negligence allow the danger to slip into the food chain. The government downplays or ignores the risks. When the problem becomes so big it can’t be denied, leadership orders inspections and promises to punish wrongdoers. The new vigilance leads to other...
Reporter's suit challenges China's media controls... →
BEIJING – A Chinese reporter whose weekly publication was closed for three months after she wrote an article that criticized one of China’s largest banks has sued the government, her lawyer said Tuesday.