Problems with Chinese products raise concerns

WASHINGTON – First it was pet food that sickened dogs and cats.

Then came warnings about toothpaste, toy trains, car tires and several types of fish. The warnings had one thing in common – all of the products came from China.And that has people worried.”I’m scared to death.We are dependent on our government inspecting things,” said Joyce Simple, a church secretary, interviewed on a recent shopping trip to a Wal-Mart in Houston.”I would be careful of anything that came from China.”For Emily Pokora, a 24-year-old law school student in Phoenix, the problem hit even closer to home.Her cat got violently sick in March after eating tainted pet food.While the cat survived, the episode has shaken Pokora’s faith in the products she buys.”You go to the store and you can’t trust anymore that it’s not going to kill your animal or hurt you,” she said.The string of recalls has not gone unnoticed by shoppers, based on Associated Press interviews around the country.”Here we’re buying all of these products from China and they’re not adhering to our standards.It’s very disturbing,” said Joanne Metler, a community college teacher in Chicago.FOOD AND SAFETY The food and safety issues are one more irritant in a trade relationship already strained by a ballooning US deficit with China.That deficit hit US$233 billion last year, the highest ever recorded with a single country.Imports of Chinese products into the US totalled US$288 billion while US exports to China totalled US$55 billion.That means for every US$1 in goods the United States sells China, China sells the US more than US$5 in products.Chinese exports to the United States last year were nearly triple the level of just five years ago.The flood of Chinese products has increased since China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation in late 2001, a development which removed many of the remaining US barriers.China is now the dominant supplier in a whole range of areas that go far beyond the athletic shoes and low-priced clothing that have traditionally displayed the Made in China label.Meanwhile, Cao Wenzhuang, a former department head at China’s drug regulation agency, was sentenced to death Friday on bribery charges.A department director at the State Food and Drug Administration, he was given the death sentence with a two-year reprieve on charges of accepting bribes and neglecting official duties, said his lawyer, Gao Zicheng.Cao, who oversaw the pharmaceutical registration department, had been secretary to Zheng Xiaoyu, the head of the agency, in the 1980s.Zheng was sentenced to death in May for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.In the pharmaceuticals department, Cao, 45, had the power to approve pharmaceutical production in China from 2002 to 2006.Of the toys sold in America, 80 per cent are produced in China.China has become the top foreign source of tires in the United States with imports from all countries accounting for about 40 per cent of the US market last year.LEAD SUPPLIER China is now the world’s leading supplier of seafood, shipping US$1,9 billion worth of fish and shellfish to the US last year, making it the third biggest foreign supplier in the US market.The increase in imports, however, has been accompanied by rising numbers of defects being discovered.The number of Chinese-made products that are being recalled in the US has doubled in the last five years.Chinese imports accounted for more than 60 per cent of the recalls announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission this year and all of the 24 toy recalls.Chinese officials, while accusing the media of hyping the problems, have moved to show they are taking the concerns seriously.Nampa APThe warnings had one thing in common – all of the products came from China.And that has people worried.”I’m scared to death.We are dependent on our government inspecting things,” said Joyce Simple, a church secretary, interviewed on a recent shopping trip to a Wal-Mart in Houston.”I would be careful of anything that came from China.”For Emily Pokora, a 24-year-old law school student in Phoenix, the problem hit even closer to home.Her cat got violently sick in March after eating tainted pet food.While the cat survived, the episode has shaken Pokora’s faith in the products she buys.”You go to the store and you can’t trust anymore that it’s not going to kill your animal or hurt you,” she said.The string of recalls has not gone unnoticed by shoppers, based on Associated Press interviews around the country.”Here we’re buying all of these products from China and they’re not adhering to our standards.It’s very disturbing,” said Joanne Metler, a community college teacher in Chicago.FOOD AND SAFETY The food and safety issues are one more irritant in a trade relationship already strained by a ballooning US deficit with China.That deficit hit US$233 billion last year, the highest ever recorded with a single country.Imports of Chinese products into the US totalled US$288 billion while US exports to China totalled US$55 billion.That means for every US$1 in goods the United States sells China, China sells the US more than US$5 in products.Chinese exports to the United States last year were nearly triple the level of just five years ago.The flood of Chinese products has increased since China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation in late 2001, a development which removed many of the remaining US barriers.China is now the dominant supplier in a whole range of areas that go far beyond the athletic shoes and low-priced clothing that have traditionally displayed the Made in China label.Meanwhile, Cao Wenzhuang, a former department head at China’s drug regulation agency, was sentenced to death Friday on bribery charges.A department director at the State Food and Drug Administration, he was given the death sentence with a two-year reprieve on charges of accepting bribes and neglecting official duties, said his lawyer, Gao Zicheng.Cao, who oversaw the pharmaceutical registration department, had been secretary to Zheng Xiaoyu, the head of the agency, in the 1980s.Zheng was sentenced to death in May for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.In the pharmaceuticals department, Cao, 45, had the power to approve pharmaceutical production in China from 2002 to 2006.Of the toys sold in America, 80 per cent are produced in China.China has become the top foreign source of tires in the United States with imports from all countries accounting for about 40 per cent of the US market last year. LEAD SUPPLIER China is now the world’s leading supplier of seafood, shipping US$1,9 billion worth of fish and shellfish to the US last year, making it the third biggest foreign supplier in the US market.The increase in imports, however, has been accompanied by rising numbers of defects being discovered.The number of Chinese-made products that are being recalled in the US has doubled in the last five years.Chinese imports accounted for more than 60 per cent of the recalls announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission this year and all of the 24 toy recalls.Chinese officials, while accusing the media of hyping the problems, have moved to show they are taking the concerns seriously.Nampa AP