TT- Since the beginning of 2007, many countries in the world have been successively found harmful chemicals in consuming products and food made in China. Thousands of people died because of those products.

The “deadly” products

In the early of May, 2007 The United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) claimed their shocking discovery that about 2.5 to 3 million American people used poultry that had eaten powdered vegetables affected melamine originating from China. At once, the United States destroyed 3.1 million chickens once eating food affected melamine. Melamine is the chemical used to make fertilizer, plastic products and is said firmly to cause cancer.

At the same time, FDA warned the consumers about an extremely harmful chemical, diethylene glycol (DGE), which is in fake glycerine made in China. This chemical destroys kidney and then has effects on central nervous system, worsens respiration and leads to death. The danger is that glycerine is vital element in dozens of drugs, syrup, and toothpaste and so on.

The consumer’s panic broke out when the Central American country Panama found DGE in fake glycerine counterfeited in China which was used to make syrup to cure cough, drugs to cure cold and some other drugs produced in this country. The claim was too late because before that, in 2006, more than 360 people in Panama died after using drug containing fake glycerine.

Right after that Australia and Central American countries such as Panama, Republic of Dominica, Costa Rica and Nicaragua once again found DGE in a series of toothpastes imported from China among which are the two popular brand names, Mr. Cool and Excel. According to Panama authorities, the amount of DGE in Mr. Cool and Excel is up to 4.6%, 50 times higher than approved safe proportion. This takes life of more than 100 people and makes 500 other people impregnated with toxic substances.

Toxic substances even appear in children clothes

It is not the end. In May 2007, Australian mass media provided evidences showing that Chinese garment products contain extremely high proportion of formaldehyde. According to World Health Organization (WHO), formaldehyde has bad effects on skin and respiration system even with a very small amount, resulting to leukemia and lung cancer, and so on.

According to the daily newspaper Sydney Morning Herald, the blankets named Sheridan Indulgence imported from China, which are now being sold widely in Australia, contain formaldehyde of a proportion 10 times higher than the approved international standard. Chinese producers often use formaldehyde to prevent artificial fabric from wrinkling up and shrinking. This kind of fabric is used to make drapes, pillows, clothes for kids and cloth toys.

It was also in May 2007, Wal-Mart, the biggest supermarket system in the United States, claimed to withdraw the child napkins imported from China after their experiment demonstrated that this product contained lead in very high proportion.

Losing trust in “made in China” products

Facing a series of accusations, Chinese Government has the same reaction: to keep silent or deny the involvement. When the “Pet Food Crisis 2007” arose, Beijing stated that they did not export gluten to the United States and that melamine does no harm. However, the conflict is after that Beijing banned melamine in powdered vegetables for export or domestic consumption.

It was not until the early of May 2007 that Chinese Quality Management Department admitted that two Biology Technology companies had intended to export pet food which contained melamine and raticide to the United States and South Africa. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs admitted that “a Chinese company” produced fake glycerine (used in drugs and cosmetics, etc.) with DGE, an extremely harmful chemical.

On May, 22nd Consumer Protection Board of European Union (EU) warned that consumers in the world were losing their trust in Chinese products. FDA also officially recommends American consumers not to use any Chinese toothpaste.

Nevertheless, at the press conference on low quality Chinese exports leading to poison cases, vice-manager of Quality Control Division of China, Mr. Wei Zhuan Zhong said the drug poison case in Panama was the fault of Panama itself. The toothpaste containing cancer causing substance was produced by a company in Jiangsu but at the request of the contract with the sample of the customer. DGE proportion was written of approved level on the cover.