Comments on: China STILL Sucks… http://rationalradical.com/2008/09/19/china-still-sucks/ Uncritical Thinkers Need Not Apply... Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:29:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: admin http://rationalradical.com/2008/09/19/china-still-sucks/#comment-1037 admin Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:23:26 +0000 http://rationalradical.com/2008/09/19/china-still-sucks/#comment-1037 An update by CM--I'll reprint a few lines at the top here, to show the extent of the problem and the motives for not acting sooner: <strong>Questions have been raised about whether officials sought to cover up contamination of powdered milk, in part to avoid a scandal around the Aug. 8-24 Olympics. The company at the heart of the scandal, Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group, received complaints about its infant milk formula as early as March, and local officials were notified in early August at the latest.</strong> <strong>A vice governor of Hebei province, where Sanlu is located, told reporters this past week that two suppliers detained this month admitted they had been adding melamine to milk for three years.</strong> <em>China sought Saturday to shore up public confidence weakened by a milk safety scandal, with the president scolding officials for negligence and government agencies promising adequate supplies of uncontaminated milk. The flurry of action comes as the government confronts one of the worst food safety crises in years. Many leading brands of powdered and liquid milk and other dairy products have been pulled from store shelves after infant formula contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine sickened more than 6,200 children and left four dead. In a measure of the scandal's scope, the Ministry of Health ordered all 31 provinces and major cities nationwide to set up separate 24-hour crisis hot lines to meet surging public calls and help arrange care for the sick. The order followed a barrage of instructions late Friday from the State Council, China's Cabinet, requiring hospitals to provide free medical care. To further calm public jitters, the top economic agencies promised to monitor markets for supply disruptions and for any price-gouging in sales of powdered milk - a staple in rural China. "Market supplies of powdered milk not tainted with melamine are sufficient," the Xinhua News Agency quoted the Commerce Ministry as saying. State-run newspapers and national China Central Television ran lists of brands and products that were cleared of safety violations and deemed safe. In Beijing and Shanghai, grocery stores where dairy sections were emptied by recalls Friday displayed thinly stocked shelves of milk by Saturday afternoon, mostly imported or from the China operations of Nestle SA and other foreign-owned dairies. The apparently widespread contamination has rapidly become a political headache for a Communist government that hoped to be basking in praise for last month's successful Beijing Olympics. Instead, the government is coping with an apparent cover-up by local officials and being forced to rebuild public trust. "Some officials have ignored public opinion and turned a blind eye to people's hardships, even on major problems that affect people's lives and safety," President Hu Jintao said in a speech Friday to senior Communist Party members. "We must learn a painful lesson." Though Hu did not directly mention the contaminated milk - and the comment was but a small part of largely dry, wide-ranging policy speech - the quote was prominently reported by state media. Tainted, substandard food and medicines have plagued China for years as companies freed by free-market reforms and lax government oversight rushed to meet swelling demand created by rising living standards. Last year, the government promised to overhaul safety regimes after medicines, toys and pet foods killed and sickened people and pets in North and South America and other export markets. On Saturday, Japan joined Singapore and Chinese-ruled Hong Kong in recalling Chinese-made dairy products. The Marudai Food Co. issued a recall of cream buns, pork buns and three other products as a precaution because they were made by its Chinese subsidiary using milk from Chinese dairy giant Yili Industrial Group Co., which sold tainted products. Dutch dairy company Friesland Foods said Saturday it is recalling all of its plastic-bottled milk in Hong Kong and Macau. The recall of Dutch Lady-brand milk came a day after Singapore authorities found the industrial chemical melamine in the brand's strawberry milk manufactured in China. Friesland Foods Hong Kong said it ordered the recall "as a measure of precaution," even though local tests had shown its dairy products were free of melamine. Yet the tainted milk is chiefly a domestic scandal in China with broad dimensions, striking products nationwide and endangering children. Even worse, many families are allowed to have only one child under strict family planning limits. In recent days tests by government inspectors found melamine in powdered and liquid milk samples from 22 dairy companies - including industry titans like Yili, Mengniu Dairy Group Co. - prompting the recalls. Melamine is a chemical used in making plastics and is high in nitrogen. When added to milk, tests register the melamine's nitrogen as protein. Though health experts believe ingesting minute amounts poses no danger, melamine can cause kidney stones, which can lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable. Suppliers, squeezed by higher costs for fertilizer, feed, gas and labor, are believed to have turned to melamine to cover up the fact that milk was being watered down to make more money.</em> An update by CM–I’ll reprint a few lines at the top here, to show the extent of the problem and the motives for not acting sooner:

Questions have been raised about whether officials sought to cover up contamination of powdered milk, in part to avoid a scandal around the Aug. 8-24 Olympics. The company at the heart of the scandal, Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group, received complaints about its infant milk formula as early as March, and local officials were notified in early August at the latest.

A vice governor of Hebei province, where Sanlu is located, told reporters this past week that two suppliers detained this month admitted they had been adding melamine to milk for three years.

China sought Saturday to shore up public confidence weakened by a milk safety scandal, with the president scolding officials for negligence and government agencies promising adequate supplies of uncontaminated milk. The flurry of action comes as the government confronts one of the worst food safety crises in years. Many leading brands of powdered and liquid milk and other dairy products have been pulled from store shelves after infant formula contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine sickened more than 6,200 children and left four dead. In a measure of the scandal’s scope, the Ministry of Health ordered all 31 provinces and major cities nationwide to set up separate 24-hour crisis hot lines to meet surging public calls and help arrange care for the sick. The order followed a barrage of instructions late Friday from the State Council, China’s Cabinet, requiring hospitals to provide free medical care.

To further calm public jitters, the top economic agencies promised to monitor markets for supply disruptions and for any price-gouging in sales of powdered milk - a staple in rural China. “Market supplies of powdered milk not tainted with melamine are sufficient,” the Xinhua News Agency quoted the Commerce Ministry as saying. State-run newspapers and national China Central Television ran lists of brands and products that were cleared of safety violations and deemed safe. In Beijing and Shanghai, grocery stores where dairy sections were emptied by recalls Friday displayed thinly stocked shelves of milk by Saturday afternoon, mostly imported or from the China operations of Nestle SA and other foreign-owned dairies.

The apparently widespread contamination has rapidly become a political headache for a Communist government that hoped to be basking in praise for last month’s successful Beijing Olympics. Instead, the government is coping with an apparent cover-up by local officials and being forced to rebuild public trust. “Some officials have ignored public opinion and turned a blind eye to people’s hardships, even on major problems that affect people’s lives and safety,” President Hu Jintao said in a speech Friday to senior Communist Party members. “We must learn a painful lesson.” Though Hu did not directly mention the contaminated milk - and the comment was but a small part of largely dry, wide-ranging policy speech - the quote was prominently reported by state media.

Tainted, substandard food and medicines have plagued China for years as companies freed by free-market reforms and lax government oversight rushed to meet swelling demand created by rising living standards. Last year, the government promised to overhaul safety regimes after medicines, toys and pet foods killed and sickened people and pets in North and South America and other export markets. On Saturday, Japan joined Singapore and Chinese-ruled Hong Kong in recalling Chinese-made dairy products. The Marudai Food Co. issued a recall of cream buns, pork buns and three other products as a precaution because they were made by its Chinese subsidiary using milk from Chinese dairy giant Yili Industrial Group Co., which sold tainted products. Dutch dairy company Friesland Foods said Saturday it is recalling all of its plastic-bottled milk in Hong Kong and Macau. The recall of Dutch Lady-brand milk came a day after Singapore authorities found the industrial chemical melamine in the brand’s strawberry milk manufactured in China. Friesland Foods Hong Kong said it ordered the recall “as a measure of precaution,” even though local tests had shown its dairy products were free of melamine.

Yet the tainted milk is chiefly a domestic scandal in China with broad dimensions, striking products nationwide and endangering children. Even worse, many families are allowed to have only one child under strict family planning limits. In recent days tests by government inspectors found melamine in powdered and liquid milk samples from 22 dairy companies - including industry titans like Yili, Mengniu Dairy Group Co. - prompting the recalls. Melamine is a chemical used in making plastics and is high in nitrogen. When added to milk, tests register the melamine’s nitrogen as protein. Though health experts believe ingesting minute amounts poses no danger, melamine can cause kidney stones, which can lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable. Suppliers, squeezed by higher costs for fertilizer, feed, gas and labor, are believed to have turned to melamine to cover up the fact that milk was being watered down to make more money.

]]> By: admin http://rationalradical.com/2008/09/19/china-still-sucks/#comment-1011 admin Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:17:38 +0000 http://rationalradical.com/2008/09/19/china-still-sucks/#comment-1011 Sheesh...sadly, I can see that being said. Sheesh…sadly, I can see that being said.

]]> By: Joy http://rationalradical.com/2008/09/19/china-still-sucks/#comment-1000 Joy Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:24:21 +0000 http://rationalradical.com/2008/09/19/china-still-sucks/#comment-1000 I think the manager of the company mentioned how the public is overly concerned over a couple of deaths caused by the milk powder and that tests for the it is unnecessary. I think the manager of the company mentioned how the public is overly concerned over a couple of deaths caused by the milk powder and that tests for the it is unnecessary.

]]> By: FunnkyMe http://rationalradical.com/2008/09/19/china-still-sucks/#comment-996 FunnkyMe Fri, 19 Sep 2008 23:23:10 +0000 http://rationalradical.com/2008/09/19/china-still-sucks/#comment-996 It astounds me that "stakeholders" and "corporations" and "governments" are the first to know about a fatally serious situation like this that gets hidden from the public and suppliers (who just keep selling their "quality" goods(?)) and the last to know are the consumers. RR's statement that "Tainted baby formula has been blamed for killing four infants and sickening 6,200 in China since the scandal broke last week. Some 1,300 babies, mostly newborns, are currently in hospitals and 158 of them are suffering from acute kidney failure. Thousands of parents across the country were bringing their children to hospitals for health checks" Why are the most helpless ones - newborns and babies- disregarded in the name of making a better profit but putting a poison into their milk/formula? and why would the gov't AGAIN be covering it up with empty promises and lies. My heart goesout to all those families who have lost - and who are losing their babies due to corporate greed. It astounds me that “stakeholders” and “corporations” and “governments” are the first to know about a fatally serious situation like this that gets hidden from the public and suppliers (who just keep selling their “quality” goods(?)) and the last to know are the consumers.

RR’s statement that “Tainted baby formula has been blamed for killing four infants and sickening 6,200 in China since the scandal broke last week. Some 1,300 babies, mostly newborns, are currently in hospitals and 158 of them are suffering from acute kidney failure. Thousands of parents across the country were bringing their children to hospitals for health checks”

Why are the most helpless ones - newborns and babies- disregarded in the name of making a better profit but putting a poison into their milk/formula? and why would the gov’t AGAIN be covering it up with empty promises and lies. My heart goesout to all those families who have lost - and who are losing their babies due to corporate greed.

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