POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

There's an article in today's Globe and Mail on how the pet food recall has affected various animal shelters across Canada. 'Animal Shelters Left with Hunger pangs after Tainted-Food Scare Depletes Stock' tells the story of various animal shelters across the country who have had to throw out recalled food and are having a tough time making ends meet at a time when donations are usually low. Many people may not realize that their previous donations have been discarded and that these charities are in need of new foods.

ALSO COUNTERFEIT TOOTHPASTE FOUND IN CANADIAN STORES:

Another article in the Globe and Mail reports on how counterfeit Colgate toothpaste, similar to that found in four states in the USA, has been found in a dollar store in Guelph, Ontario. Wahid Choksi, owner of the 'Everything for a Dollar' chain of discount stores said that he has ordered the removal of the inventory from the shelves of his stores in various cities across Canada. He alerted his supplier, Toronto-based FHT Enterprises Inc., . This company said that it had imported 1,440 tubes from a supplier in New York and that Mr. Choksi's store was the only one that they had sold to. FHT refused to name their US supplier. The fake Colgate toothpaste is said to contain diethylene glycol, just like previous brands of Chinese toothpaste recalled in several other countries.

Finally, there's an interesting article from ABC News titled 'Toothpaste Not the Only Counterfeit Product on U.S. Shelves'. The article gives examples of many faked products including medicines. It also gives a few tips on how to avoid being taken in.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

An article in the International Herald Times titled 'China's Communist Party calls for tests to ensure toothpaste safety' reports that yesterday the official organ of the CCP, the People's Daily, called for safety tests to be carried out in a timely manner "as to some harmful ingredients" without specifying diethylene glycol. The comments appeared at the bottom of an article reporting on Hong Kong's ban of three toothpaste brands containing said chemical. On Friday Japan also joined the list of countries that have banned certain Chinese toothpastes by recalling three brands sold to hotels across the country. The article goes on to report on corruption within China's 'National Committee for Oral Health' which had taken the equivalent of US$260,000 from manufacturers in exchange for product endorsements as well as other bribes paid directly to individual committee heads. The Chinese Ministry of Health said that the illegal income will be confiscated and responsible people will be punished.

Meanwhile there's another report from the Independent Online titled 'Tainted Foods a Daily Problem in Asia' showing that the problem of tainted foodstuffs is hardly restricted to China. This South African news agency reports on the problems with food quality in not just China but also Vietnam,Indonesia and India. The problems range from the addition of formaldehyde as a preservative, borax for the same purpose,pesticide contamination and industrial dyes. Rather interesting as an overview, especially for someone like Molly who really likes her noodles.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

More news from the toothpaste front. The Baltimore Sun reports today that the Dollar Power store in Silver Springs Maryland was one of the stores found to have been selling counterfeit Colgate toothpaste. Twenty two out of 144 tubes present in the store had already been sold. The distributor of the counterfeit was MS USA of North Bergen NJ. Meanwhile the Houston Chronicle reports that health officials in New Zealand has advised consumers yesterday to avoid toothpastes imported from China. One brand, Excel, was found to contain diethylene glycol, but there is concern that other brands may be affected as well. Excel was being sold in the South Island Just $2 chain of discount stores. Health officials are contacting nineteen other companies importing toothpaste from China to help determine th extent of the problem.

Meanwhile a report from the Reuters' News Agency says that Shanghai White Cat Shareholding Co. Ltd, the makers of Maxam toothpaste, claim that they stopped using diethylene glycol in their product as of May 21st. Maybe yes. Maybe no. Also, according to a report from the British newspaper, The Guardian, Chinese authorities are urging that Hong Kong lift its ban on three mainland brands of toothpaste- Maxam, Sanqi and Tianqi. Though it is now part of China Hong Kong retains many of its legal rights and can thus ban products not yet banned on the mainland. This article also gives some more details about previous Chinese "research" on the addition of anti-freeze to toothpaste. According to the article a 2000 study by "Chinese experts" (whoever they are-Molly) "proved" that toothpaste containing less than 15.6% diethylene glycol was "harmless" for humans, according to a post on the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision in China. The experimental cohort(if it existed-Molly) was apparently 1,695 people. One wonders how they got the number to the first decimal place. Who were the "volunteers" ? How long were they instructed to brush their teeth with antifreeze ? Could they spit or should they swallow ? Were they provided with water to rinse ? Etc.,etc.,etc..

This article concludes with a report of an investigation by the above named governmental organization into rice dumplings being made in China for the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival. Ten percent of 133 producers inspected nationally failed because "they contained excessive amounts of food additives". The dumplings contained huge amounts of copper sulfate or copper chloride to make the bamboo leaves in which the dumplings are wrapped bright green.

Finally, if you are interested, the Chinese Xinhau news agency has an article on food inspection problems in China. The article admits the difficulties involved even while trumpeting their "triumphs", and the article is best read with an eye as to how it contradicts itself.

Coming soon: poisoned pet food, tainted toothpaste and toxic toys and additional adventures in alliteration...Molly

POISONED PET FOOD AND TOXIC TOOTHPASTE TOO:

ANOTHER FISH FOOD RECALL:

HBH Pet Products has issued a recall of many of their fish foods which, like the recalled dog and cat foods, contained melamine. Their statement can be seen at this press release. The list of newly recalled products follows below:

Crab and Lobster Bites 1.3oz

Goldfish Bites 1.5oz

Goldfish Nibblets 4.3oz

Goldfish Nibblets 8.0oz

Goldfish Nibblets 32oz

Goldfish Nuggets 32oz

Shrimp Pellets 1.6oz

Shrimp Pellets 4.6oz

Shrimp Pellets 9.1oz

African Cichlid Attack 3.8oz

African Cichlid Attack 8.0oz

African Cichlid Attack 28oz

Oscar Bites 1oz

Oscar Grow 3.8oz

Oscar Show 8oz

Super Cichlid Sinkers 29oz

Baby Bites 1.2oz

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

COLGATE WARNS OF FAKE TOOTHPASTE IN US:

According to a report in the Washington Post today Colgate-Palmolive has announced that counterfeit Colgate toothpaste has been at discount stores in four US states. The product doesn't contain fluoride, despite label claims , and may contain diethylene glycol. The product found in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland is labelled as being manufactured in South Africa even though Colgate does not import toothpaste from South Africa to the USA. There are also several spelling mistakes on the packages such as "isclinically", "SOUTH AFRLCA" and "South African Dental Assoxiation". Colgate manufacturers numerous other products including the Hill's pet food line.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

A report in today's Canada.com online news service reports that Menu Foods' stock has dipped over 25% after one of its biggest customers (unnamed) had bailed out from the sinking ship. The details of the story, however, say that the unnamed customer will continue to purchase "loaf" ie solid canned food. Have a look at the article for further details. All that Molly can say is "tsk,tsk,tsk; how much my heart bleeds" . The article mentions "the difficulty of shifting production elsewhere". Does this mean that Menu will eventually recover to continue its ways in the future ? Time will tell.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world an article in today's The Australian says that the Australian government has finally got around to recalling two brands of Chinese produced toothpaste previously found to contain antifreeze in the USA and Central America. The brands implicated are Mr. Cool and Excel. Besides being evidence that the Australian government is pulling ahead in the race with the USA as to which is the slowest to respond the article contains the bizarre statement that the Australian government says that "all consumers (should) check the ingredients labelling on their imported toothpaste and...dispose of any with diethylene glycol listed as an ingredient". Too many martinis on the 4 hour lunch favoured by upper government bureaucrats. As if it was ever listed !!!!!! Molly loves items like this as they give her confidence that insanity is not restricted to the left.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

The Itchmo Blog has an interesting article today announcing that the same Texas laboratory, Expertox, that found acetaminophen in pet food has now found cyanuric acid in an unopened can of Science Diet Canine Light. The can had a best before date of 01 2009 and lot number T0520917 7048.The cyanuric acid was found at a concentration of over 400 micrograms per gram. This food is not on the present pet food recall list. Hills has refused comment to date. To read more about this item including readers comments go here.

Meanwhile today's Houston Chronicle reports that Gold City Enterprises LLC of Hallandale Florida has issued a recall on about 170,000 units of their toothpaste because it may contain diethylene glycol. The brands named are Shir Fresh Mint Fluoride, Shir Fresh Ice, Shir Mint Fluoride , Shir Fresh Cool and Shir Mint Flouride.

Finally, today's edition of the business magazine The Economist has an article titled 'China's Food Safety' discussing same. It is from their Intelligence Unit Newswire and not only gives an overview of the problem but also warns companies that they could be legally liable if they continue to import unreliable products from China. Interesting read.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

The Pet Food Recall Facts site has been diligently following the results of lab analyses conducted by private parties, as opposed to corporate or governmental agencies. They have recently released their results as to some pet foods that are contaminated by acetaminophen (Tylenol), something quite separate from the melamine/cyanuric acid contamination so far discussed around the pet food recalls. Acetaminophen would be particularly toxic to cats. Here is a list of the brands that have so far been found to contain this chemical. The reader should note that none of these have as yet been recalled.

Pet Pride Turkey and Giblets Dinner (also positive for cyanuric acid)

Hill's Science Diet Dry Cat Food

Hill's Science Diet Light Adult (also contained cyanuric acid)

Go to the link above for more details. Also note that the Itchmo Blog has set up a system whereby you can test the food that your pet is eating without going through the government- as if they'd do it anyways.

Meanwhile, as Molly implicated earlier on shrimp food exported from the USA that was found to contain melamine, China is hardly the only offender as to food product quality. A report in the Itchmo Blog says that independent testing has confirmed that Country Value Dry Puppy Formula exported from the USA to South Korea has been found to contain melamine. The product was made by Diamond Foods of the USA in September, 2006. One wonders how many more American bags of pet food are floating around the world today. One should also note an article in yesterday's Forbes Magazine about how China has rejected American shipments of raisins and vitamin pills because the levels of bacteria and sulphur dioxide were too high, violating Chinese safety standards. Pirate capitalism is the same in the USA as it is in China.

Finally, there was a very interesting article in the June 6th edition of the Financial Post entitled 'China's Deadly Fakes'. This article puts the whole matter of poisoned pet food into the context of the Chinese "pirate capitalism" that fakes matters far and beyond that of food products. An interesting read for sure.

Molly has to conclude this blog with an observation. Most of the articles quoted in this blog on the matter of melamine contaminated pet food have been from the business sections of the daily press or from specifically business sources. Molly would say that this follows a general pattern. The business section of newspapers is generally a lot more truthful than the regular news sections- and often more important. Food for thought.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

In an ironic twist of fate today's Wall Street Journal reports that it is now the USA which is implicated in exporting melamine contaminated feed. The item in question is, mercifully, shrimp feed rather than pet food, but one wonders about the implications for the human food chain. The exporter is Zeigler Bros. Inc. of Gardners, Penn., and their supplier was Unicope Inc. of Johnstown, Colorado. This company has many US distributors and over a dozen international distributors. The original source of their contamination was Tembec BTLSR of Toledo, Ohio. This is a subsidiary of Tembec of Montreal and manufacturers binding ingredients for animal feed. A spokesman for Tembec said that the company had been using melamine since 2004 in their products but ceased after the news items on the pet food scandal this spring.

Thirteen countries received the contaminated shrimp feed including Panama, Venezuela, Belize, Suriname, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Gambia, Lebanon and Canada.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

A Reuters news alert earlier today reported that the government of Singapore has banned the sale of three brands of Chinese toothpaste. These are different from the brands that were found in the USA, Central America and Australia. Like the previous brands these were also found to contain diethylene glycol. The brands mentioned were Hei Mei Toothpaste, Hei Mei Calcium Toothpaste and Maxam Toothpaste with Fluoride.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

The Itchmo Blog has established a regular procedure for submitting pet foo samples that pet owners may think are contaminated by unwanted chemicals. Itchmo has established a special board for posting, coordinating and sharing results about pet food tests. Go to the link for further details. Also a new article on the Pet Connection site says that there may be yet another contaminant in pet food- acetaminophen. They quote an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune as to this matter. Acetaminophen is particularly toxic to cats. The best that Molly can make out from this news item is that the drug was added to foods that claim "arthritis relief". I might be wrong on this, but this is my supposition.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

ANOTHER PET FOOD RECALL:

The Sergeant's Pet Care Product's Inc. company has issued a recall of some of their fish food products, sold as feed for ornamental fish due to contamination with melamine, the product responsible for many deaths in dogs and cats.. The full details of this recall can be found at their press release. The items involved in the recall are:

10006 Atlantis Tropical Fish Flake Food ,0.88oz

10057 Atlantis Tropical Fish Flake Food, 2.25 oz

10154 Atlantis Goldfish Flake Food, 0.75oz

10731 Atlantis Goldfish Flake Food, 2.15 oz

10847 Atlantis Color Enhance Tropical Fish Flake Food, 0.88oz

10926 Atlantis Beta Food, 1.2 oz

88515 Atlantis Tropical Fish Flake Food, 0.42oz

88516 Atlantis Goldfish Flake Food, 0.42 oz

It should be noted that Sergeant's supplier is Taiwanese rather than from mainland China.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

Yesterday's USA Today had an interesting report, once more documenting how blogs such as the Pet Connection and the Itchmo Blog became the front line for information that concerned pet owners wanted during the pet food recall crisis. Reports on what foods had been recalled were widely scattered between various sources, and Pet Connection, Itchmo and others such as PetFoodTracker.com and PetsitUSA.com became the front line providers of information. This sites also introduced the innovation of live blogging of FDA news conferences. The Pet Connection also complied a database of animals affected, something that no official agency had the mandate to do. Go to the above article to read more about how the internet became a web of timely news and comment in this case. The only fault that Molly finds with this article is that it is not proven that Itchmo and the others are banned in China. The site that they use to track this has been discussed previously on Molly's Blog. It lists Molly's Blog as blocked in China even though Molly regularly gets hits from that country.

Meanwhile another article in the Toronto Star gives more detailed coverage of how much Menu Foods has lost because of the pet food recall. Sales for the period involved were down 31.3% from the same period last year. Two of Menu's main customers have decided to source their production elsewhere. Interestingly enough these two companies are on top of an announcement on March 16th, when the recall began, that Menu was losing its major corporate client, one that represented 11% of its sales. Menu went from a $1.3 million profit to the first quarter of 2006 to a $17.5 million dollar loss in the first quarter of 2007. The final estimated cost to Menu will be about $45 million excluding lost sales and litigation costs.

On the toothpaste front an article in the June 3rd edition of the China Daily reports Chinese officials as denying that their toothpaste can cause harm. The General Administration of Quality Supervision says that a list of ingredients is available to the US FDA. Interesting if true because this would mean that the FDA knew about this matter long before it issued its warning. The Chinese Health Ministry also issued a report saying that the diethylene glycol found in the toothpaste is "harmless at less than 15.6% of the content, citing an unnamed 2000 Chinese study. The mind boggles at what this study did.

Finally, as part of Molly's continued effort to list other Chinese brands of toothpaste that may have been exported, here's another list. Molly urges the reader to look back on previous blogs at this site to see what has already been listed.

Brand Supplier

Kingcol Suzhou Fluo Daily Used Chemicals

OEM Suzhou Fluo Daily Used Chemicals/also Jiangsu

Longli Group

Longli Jiangsu Longli Group (note: this company also

makes mouthwash - is this the upcoming recalled

item ?)

Dentakleen Yangzhou Royal Home Products Manufacture

Quanli Shanghai Quanli Commodities

More items to follow later.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

The Itchmo Blog reports that one of the Chinese toothpaste manufacturers whose human toothpastes were recently identified as containing antifreeze, Suzhou City Jinmao Chemicals Co. Ltd., also manufacturers dog toothpaste. While researching this company Molly found no indication that this particular product is exported outside of China, but caution is recommended. Also from the Itchmo site, Molly has come to understand that the Cooldent brands that contained diethylene glycol were not only the ICE label but also Cooldent Spearmint and Cooldent Fluoride.

Speaking of expansions here is another list of Chinese brands that are presumably exported. In the following the abbreviations YSIE refers to Yangzhou Sinorun Import and Export Co. Ltd. and YLDUC refers to Yangzhou Lierkany Daily Used Chemicals Co. Ltd.

BRAND SUPPLIER

Coolmate Hooya Import & Export C. Ltd.

Sign Jiangsu Light Industrial Products Import &

Export Co. Ltd

Megafresh Jiangsu Light Industrial Products Import &

Export Co. Ltd.

QuanLi Shanghai Quanli Commodities Co. Ltd.

Nu Smile Yiwu Blue Ocean Export & Import Co. Ltd.

Jai Jai Jie Suzhou City Jinmao Daily Cemicals Co. Ltd.

(already implicated as producing tainted

toothpaste)

Freshdent YSIE

Smile2 YSIE

Smokers Toothpaste YSIE

Angola YSIE

Croste YSIE

Aloe YSIE

Spritemint YSIE

Dentakleen YSIE

ABC Dent YLDUC

Colddate YLCUC

E-Day YLCUC

Favourite YLCUC

Shencui YLCUC

Aerodent YLCUC

Oramint YLCUC

Hi-Hi YLCUC

Injoy YLCUC

As the reader can see some of the above are obvious "rip-offs" from more well known brands. Most will be names that few people come in contact with unless they shop at discount stores. Well....that says Winnipeg all over, the world capital of the "dollar store".

Anyways, there are many more names to come. Stay tuned here for the next installment of this list and avoid those so far mentioned in either this or previous posts on this blog.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

FURTHER CHINESE TOOTHPASTE BRANDS TO AVOID:

According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News and another on the TVNZ network diethylene glycol has been found in toothpaste imported from China in the American cities of Miami, Los Angeles and also in Puerto Rica. The New Zealand source reports that officials at the Chinese companies implicated, Suzhou City Jinmao Daily Chemicals Co. Ltd, and Goldcredit International Trading co. Ltd , either denied adding diethylene glycol to their product or denied exporting to the USA. The brands that are under suspicion, besides Excel and Mr. Cool and others that Moly has previously mentioned (but have yet to be implicated) include the following:

Cooldent ICE

Dr. Cool

Superdent

Clean Rite

Oralmax Extreme

Oral Bright

Bright Max

ShiR Fresh Mint

POISONED PET FOOD:

AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

According to a report in USA Today today the Chinese government has "mounted a spirited defense of the country's food and drug safety system". The government spokesman, Li Yuanping, shifted the blame to US officials for "lax procedures" that allow them to accept imports that are not officially approved by the Chinese government. Partly true I guess, but a typical blame shifting tactic. The spokesman also "claimed" that 99% of Chinese food exports to the USA "met quality standards", a figure that was slightly higher than the rate of US exports to China. This is actually quite bizarre, as the first statement admits that the Chinese government has no handle on what is actually exported (enough to give an old style Stalinist diarrhea). The spokesman is also quite aware of how little of the Chinese exports are actually "inspected" on arrival in the USA. Sounds to Molly like the invention of utterly fantastic "statistics" with no factual basis. Even more incredibly Li tried to shift blame for the recent deaths in Panama from cough syrup tainted with antifreeze to the Panamanians who supposedly "falsified the scope of use and shelf life of the product". Cough, cough,cough, cough. NOW this ignorant ex-chemist Molly knows that antifreeze goes "outdated" and only becomes poisonous then. As to the "scope" of the product maybe this refers to some sort of thing like "not meant as a sole source of fluids". Who the hell knows. Great as a comedy routine I guess, though the American FDA has been unintentionally funny at times during the pet food recall crisis.

Anyways, as a public service, here is a list of some brands of toothpaste manufactured in China that "responsible authorities" (cough) might want to check for diethylene glycol contamination. These are from the Global Source listing, and they don't pretend to be a complete list. According to one Chinese report as far back as 2005 China was the world's leading producer of toothpaste, exporting to over 80 countries. In 2005 China produced 5.2 billion tubes of toothpaste. Not that the Chinese are entirely at fault because foreign firms have set up production in the Peoples' Republic since the 1990s.

So, here's the preliminary list. In the following the abbreviation "GLEG" refers to the Guangzhou Liby Enterprise Group:

Brand Supplier

Herbal Essense Toothpaste GLEG

2-Fluoride and calcium Toothpaste GLEG

Blue Sky Toothpaste GLEG

Bamboo Toothpaste GLEG

Crystal Toothpaste GLEG

Superclear Crystal White Toothpaste GLEG

Crystal Herbal Toothpaste GLEG

Pear-Light Toothpaste GLEG

Liby 2-Fluoride and Calcium Toothpaste GLEG

Pearl Toothpaste GLEG

As the reader can see this represents only the brands distributed by one supplier. Some of these may only be available in China, but the reader should take note of the name "Herbal Essence" in the above list. More on this later as Molly searches it down and expands it.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

More news on the melamine front yesterday. In a news release the FDA announced that there has been a voluntary recall of livestock, fish and shrimp feeds produced by two companies, Tembec BTLSR of Toledo, Ohio and Uniscope of Johnstown, Colorado. In these cases the melamine was presumably used as a binding agent to make the pellets hold together (though it would, as an aside, increase the "apparent" protein content of the feeds). These two companies are American, and this recall involves no Chinese ingredients. It should also be noted that the addition of melamine to these products is a long standing practice, and one wonders why it took almost three months for this to become public since the beginning of the pet food crisis. Melamine is not approved as a feed additive. Tembec is a subsidiary of the Montreal based forestry company of the same name. The FDA also reports that the feed products of these two companies also contain urea-formaldehyde resin, most commonly used in insulation. No notice of these recalls appears on the webpages of the companies mentioned as of this morning.

On another front there is an article today on the Reuters News Agency that reports on the cost of the scandal to Menu Foods. The direct costs, excluding lost sales and possible legal costs are so far about $45 million. As for more serious penalties the China Daily reported yesterday that an article in the Peoples' Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, called the death sentence of former Chinese drug czar Zheng Xiaoyu a "warning to other officials". This is further evidence of the determination of the Chinese government to try and at least "be seen" as addressing problems, even if the solution of terror rather than addressing systematic problems is inadequate.

POISONED PET FOOD:

AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

A Reuters news alert dated earlier today reports that a Costa Rican retailer has handed over about three metric tonnes of the Chinese made toothpastes Excel and Mr. Cool to authorities following earlier raids in several Central American countries. Molly estimates that this represents about 23,000 tubes. Whether other brands of toothpaste are manufactured in China is still an open question.

Speaking of China the English language China Daily reports today that the former director of China's Food and Drug Administration has been sentenced to death today for taking bribes and dereliction of duty. The death penalty was imposed on the graft charge, and the dereliction of duty charge resulted in a sentence of 7 years. (One wonders if this is to be served before or after execution or whether his body parts will be held in detention after execution) The bribes taken by Zheng Xiaoyu were worth more than $850,000 US. They were paid either directly or through his wife and son who are also facing separate charges.

Zheng was head of the State Pharmaceutical Administration from 1994 to 1998 and head of the State Drug Administration from 1998 to 2003. He was appointed head of the State Food and Drug Administration in 2003 and retired in 2005 at the age of 59. Some of Zheng's former subordinates presented evidence against him. One, Hao Heping, has already been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and others are still under investigation.

China has experienced immense difficulties with corruption since its turn towards a market economy, and the ruling Communist Party routinely sanctions anti-corruption drives. Few top officials, however, are caught up in the net and fewer still are executed. Those sentenced to the maximum penalties are usually people far below the rank of somebody like Zheng. Molly has to say here that however deficient the Chinese ruling class may be in efficiency they more than make it up in severity. The problem is that the rot that they are trying to purge is so all pervasive that simple terror does little to stop it.

POISONED PET FOOD:

MENU FOODS HARASSED PET OWNERS:

PLUS CHINA RESPONDS TO FOOD CRISIS:

A report in the May 26th edition of USA Today says that the reason why Menu Foods was barred from communicating with people who had lawyers to handle their case against the company was that US District Judge Noel Hillman ruled that the calls were "aggressive" and "harassing". Menu had automated dialing systems set up to phone plaintiffs not just through the week but also on weekends. Menu hired an Atlanta Georgia insurance adjuster, Crawford, to put pressure on the owners of dead pets. They attempted to get owners to sign waiver releases to waive their right to be represented by a lawyer. The Itchmo Blog recently posted a letter from the law firm of Blim and Edelson who represent many of the people suing Menu Foods giving further details of how Menu was harassing plaintiffs.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world today's issue of the China Daily reports on 'A System to Be Set Up' for regulating food recalls in that country. The final draft of this regulation is expected to be ready by the end of this year. The article presents what is, in fact, a fairly weak response on the part of Chinese authorities, but they are at least trying to improve. It will be interesting to see if they beat the USA to the post in terms of improved regulations, or, as reported previously on this blog, they simply do "something" while the USA "does nothing" and allows its House and Senate bills to die a quiet death.

POISONED PET FOOD:

WHAT THE INTERNET DID AND WATCH OUT FOR THAT FROZEN FISH:

A recent article in the Baltimore Sun reports on how the tainted pet food crisis made some internet sites that were previously obscure into valuable resources for the public, more valuable in Molly's opinion than the official sites that produced endless streams of reassurances that turned out to be wrong. As the news story developed and grew it was the blogosphere that became the most reliable source of up to date and reliable news. Such blogs as Pet Connection, Itchmo Blog, Howl911, The Pet Food List and Pet Food Tracker became a much more immediate and reliable source of information than official sites such as the FDA. These sites also had a political effect as they mobilized public opinion in support of Senator Richard Durbin's and Representative Rosa DeLauro's bills on tightening regulatory control of the pet food industry.

The article relates how the Itchmo Blog, named after the owner's (Ben Huh) dog's desire to be constantly scratched, went from a monthly number of hits of 350 in February to over 1.5 million hits in two weeks when the pet food recall began. The sites dug out and highlighted matters that were embarrassing to corporations and government agencies alike. Seems like the internet has become a very much real tool in politics, at least around this matter.

Then there are things about this recall and other exports from China that are "fishy" as well. The Los Angeles Times reports last Friday that there is yet another problem in fish that come from China. Hong Chang of Santa Fe initiated a voluntary recall of its frozen fish imported from China after two Chicago area residents became ill after consuming soup that contained the fish. The fish were sent to wholesalers in California, Illinois and Hawaii beginning last September and were presumably 'Monk Fish'. The problem is that they were contaminated with tetrodotoxin, an extremely toxic substance produced by another species, the Puffer Fish. These are considered an extremely desirable (and expensive) delicacy in Japan where they have to be carefully and specially prepared in order to avoid toxicity. Despite the experience of Japanese chefs there are continued reports of deaths from consuming these fish, even in Japan. Chefs preparing Puffers, also known as 'fugu' or 'blowfish' in Japan have to have at least two years training in preparation of this fish. The toxin's effects begins as a numbness in the mouth and progresses to total paralysis, leading to death by respiratory failure. The victims may remain totally conscious up until the end.

Tetrodotoxin featured prominently in a book that Molly once read 'Murder, Magic and Medicine'. It occurs in species other than the Puffer Fish, but these are not usually consumed as human food. The toxin binds to voltage-gated sodium channels on cell membranes, especially muscle cells, thereby inhibiting their contraction. Death may mercifully result from cardiac failure before respiratory failure ensues. In minuscule doses tetrodotoxin has medical uses in cases of cardiac arrthymias and in pain relief. Death from acute intoxication usually occurs within 4 to 6 hours, with a known range of 20 minutes to eight hours. The published reports of toxicity from Japan say that 646 cases were reported from 1974 to 1983 with 179 fatalities. Some estimates place the worldwide incidence as 200 cases per year with a 50% mortality rate. In Haiti the use of tetrodotoxin is traditional in so-called "zombie magic". The actual fatality rate in Haiti has always been a great unknown. Not every Hoodan succeeds all the time.

No other importer other than Hong Chang has yet instituted a recall of this fish product

Meanwhile up here in Canada the Toronto Globe and Mail published an update yesterday on how melamine contaminated fish food entered Canada and then the USA. The actual original importer was American, a company in St. Louis, and the original source was Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Co. Ltd, one of the Chinese companies implicated in the pet food scandal. The feed was imported from the USA last August. The name of the St. Louis company is being protected by the CFIA, and they say that the contaminated feed "has gone to less than 60 fish farms and hatcheries in Canada". How reassuring !!!