China Manufactured Goods Could Prove Deadly

The world's workshop, turning raw materials into an avalanche of consumer goods, has now become China. Numbers of new factories open daily across China. However, a large number of the Chinese-made products prove to be a serious threat to health.

Unsafe seafood, contaminated pet food, bad toothpaste, poisoned baby milk, dangerous toys, are but a few items on the list of Chinese problematic imports. Prices for Chinese production costs are low and with the promise of short production cycles many companies fall into the China trap. However, after making the initial products that match the buyer's specifications, innovations within the factory turns towards slashing costs, in methods that can range from the unsavoury, to the highly dangerous.

Spokesperson for the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission, Scott Wolfson, said "Chinese-made products account for more than 60% of recalls this year, with a return of 338 products".

A lot of producers say their products are safe and totally deny any responsibility. The Chinese government has collated and published a black list. Some manufacturers get caught but the cleverer ones stay out front, by using products which have not yet been placed on the forbidden list.

Many modern, large factories outsource work to smaller, grimier factories, even though this means forgoing the production benefits created by economies of scale. The smaller facilities are more able to get around environmental controls and safety standards, both for the end product and the labourers.

A consultant for the growing number of Western companies in China, Mr Midler says "Many production problems are well-known within local manufacturing circles, but collusion is rampant and there are no rewards in China for whistle-blowing".

China's food and drug safety inspectors claim in 2008, they food factories in the first six months of the year, seizing tons of candy, pickles, crackers and seafood tainted with formaldehyde, illegal dyes and industrial wax.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has put a ban on five different types of Chinese farmed fish and seafood, which contained traces of antifungal and antibiotic drugs which are potentially harmful to human beings.

Toothpaste made in China has tested to an ingredient used in antifreeze in the product. The chemical has been used as a low-cost, but sometimes deadly substitute for glycerin - a sweetener which is commonly used in drugs. 51 people died in Panama, after they ingested tainted cough medicine, with the same chemical in it.

Government officials in Beijing banned the use of 10 types of drugs as a result of their makers' exaggerated and false claims, which they were unable to support in clinical testing.