I like General Tso's the best! And I'm sure hopin' that's chicken too! But then again, I really don't want to know!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
How do we get in touch with Santa's lawyers to get our money after the lawsuit that we bring against him since he knowingly carried these toys across the ocean to poison the American population?
NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) -- A tire importer said Thursday it would recall 255,000 Chinese-made tires it claims were defective because they lack a safety feature that prevents tread separation.
The recall involves half the number of tires that the importer, Foreign Tire Sales Inc., had identified in June as possibly posing a risk.
The models involved are steel-belted radial replacement tires for pickups, vans and sport utility vehicles that consumers bought from early 2004 through mid-2006, Foreign Tire Sales said.
The small company, based in Union, was ordered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in June to recall as many as 450,000 tires that it bought from Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. since 2002.
"Consumers should know that the affected tires meet all federal motor vehicle safety standards. But we went the extra mile by testing them and determining that they did not meet our standards, which are more rigorous," Richard Kuskin, president of Foreign Tire Sales, said in a statement.
Hangzhou Zhongce said it fully cooperated with NHTSA and "has not found any evidence that the ... tires at issue contain any structural defects or are missing any safety features."
The recall is among a series of recent problems involving imports from China. Products including toys, toothpaste, seafood and pet food have been recalled.
China puts brakes on driving in cities to cut increasing smog BY PETER SPIEGEL Los Angeles Times
BEIJING — Liu Ming, a 28-yearold sales executive, usually leaves his west Beijing home in his little red Toyota at 6:30 a.m. to avoid the worst of Beijing’s rush-hour traffic. Even so, his 22-mile crosstown commute usually takes about an hour. On Friday, however, Liu was able to sleep in a little. The government had ordered his car off the street because it has a license plate ending with an even number, part of a fourday test aimed at bringing down air pollution and traffic congestion. The test, which runs through Monday, is aimed at convincing international Olympic officials that the Chinese capital can make its skies clean enough to host the Summer Games this time next year. For Liu, it meant his trip to his job at a Web site for Chinese job seekers took a bit longer, nearly an hour and a half on the subway. But he was able to leave home at a more leisurely 9:30 a.m. Many businesses changed their hours to accommodate employees and customers. That was not Lui’s main reason for his supporting the car ban, however. It allowed him to do his part to alleviate smog, he said. “It’s also good for my health,” he laughed sheepishly. “I’ve gained a few pounds by driving everywhere.” According to government statistics, Beijing now has slightly more than 3 million registered vehicles, which pump out an estimated 1.3 million tons of pollutants every year. Local environmental officials cite that as the primary reason behind the city’s ever-worsening air quality and the persistent haze that hovers over the skyline. In a country that was known just a decade ago as the “Kingdom of Bikes,” the number of cars hitting the road continues to skyrocket. The China Automotive Industry Association reported last week that nationwide, domestic auto sales through July have already topped 3.5 million this year, a 24 percent increase over the same period last year. An estimated 1,000 new cars are added to Beijing’s road every day, a rate that has raised concerns from Olympic officials that traffi c and pollution, if not curbed, could force outdoor endurance sports, like long-distance cycle races, to be postponed or rescheduled. Hence the temporary car ban, which requires cars bearing even and odd-numbered license plates off the road on alternating days. Friday was the first day for even-numbered vehicles; Saturday will be the fi rst for odds. Chinese authorities announced the test, which they boasted would take 1.3 million vehicles off the road, a day after Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, suggested last week that Olympic events might have to be moved to cope with poor air quality. International Olympic officials originally said the test program was to have lasted two weeks, which would have mirrored the two-week schedule of the games themselves, to be held next August. But when city officials finally unveiled the ban, it had been pared down to four days, only two of which are weekdays. “Owning a car is a status symbol in China,” said Luo Zhu, a researcher at the Road Engineering Research Center, which is affiliated with the Transport Ministry. “It is not difficult to convince people if they are just doing this for a short time, but for a long time many problems will appear.” Commuters said rush hour traffic Friday was smoother than it had been in recent memory, and subways and buses were a bit more crowded, even though more trains and buses were added to handle the increase in passengers. Staterun media estimated that public transport ridership would rise to 8.4 million over the four-day ban, up from the normal 6.4 million passengers. Residents coped with few complaints. Some carpooled; others, like Liu, left later for work; still others stayed home completely. Those caught flouting the ban faced modest fines of about $13. Meng Xiang, a Beijing taxi driver, said demand for his cab was heavy during rush hour -- but then again, he added, it was always heavy during rush hour. A subway rider outside east Beijing’s Jianguomen station, daughter in tow, said that morning trains were crowded, but not much more than normal. State media reported pollution levels would be monitored by 30 air quality stations spread across the city, though no results were announced by the end of the first day. To the naked eye, the ban appeared to have little effect. The haze appeared to be little better than earlier in the week, with nearby skyscrapers still barely visible through the smog.
Made, badly, in China First published: Sunday, August 19, 2007
Here's the truly dark side of the economic force known as globalization, where greed prevails above all. Mattel has to recall almost 19 million toys -- 18.2 million with magnets that could be harmful to children if swallowed and 436,000 containing lead paint. About half of the toys were distributed in the United States, after being manufactured in -- where else -- China. This, after a similar recall of lead paint-tainted Mattel toys from China just a month ago. This, in an almost helpless response to continued reliance on a country that by its own admission can't help but produce and sell tainted and substandard goods.
"No system is perfect," says Robert Eckert, Mattel's chairman and chief executive. "There's no guarantee that we will not be here again."
No, there's not -- not at Mattel and not at any other company that imports or sells products from China. The toy industry is quick with its own spin, namely that the recalls announced Tuesday affect only a tiny share of the 3 billion toys sold in the United States each year. But the problem goes well beyond one industry's bad publicity.
This, instead, is what happens when work that could be done much better but much more expensively here is sent to a country where costs are cut to the bone, consequences be damned. Some Chinese toy manufacturers are unable to test their products.
Made in China. Toxic toys, that is, along with poison pet food products, counterfeit toothpaste, contaminated seafood and defective tires. All have been recalled in recent months. Play, eat, drive and engage in personal hygiene at your own risk.
Oh, and beware of the lead in products ranging from jewelry to fishing tackle to bibs, advises Ward Stone of the state Department of Environmental Conservation in another warning to pay closer attention to what we let get exported into this country.
With such a warning come the calls for stricter consumer safety standards in this country. The Consumer Product Safety Commission clearly needs more funding and greater authority, especially after the Bush administration has reduced its staff and cut its budget. Sen. Charles Schumer has sensibly called for the creation of the job of import czar to monitor shipments from abroad and better coordinate the work of all the government agencies responsible for consumer safety.
Ultimately, though, the safety, quality and overall trustworthiness of what's produced in China is up to the Chinese themselves. They have to prove that what they're making is safe to buy, no matter how cheap the price.
Until then, let the American buyer beware.
THE ISSUE:More products, this time toys, have to be recalled.THE STAKES:Cheap goods can be, in effect, too cheap.
Re the Aug. 14 article “Manufacturer of tainted toys commits suicide”: Having written to you several times concerning the selling out of our industrial wealth, and our almost impossible-to-believe debt to the Chinese, I now wish to commend those same folks for an excellent practice they exercise, and which should be part of our way of life. We in the good old dying USA have plenty who should and do qualify. By golly, these Chinese certainly have my total endorsement and I do believe this crumbling nation would be much better off if we followed their example. Just think about it a minute: We would not be forced to fund such for the rest of their lives for destroying what was once the greatest power on earth. Hey, we would not need the death penalty — which, to be politically correct, we do not invoke anyway! Let’s give a hand to the good old Chinese for coming up with this idea all on their own — with no U.S. input! What was our trillion debt, again? CHARLES E. LYONS St. Johnsville
China says U.S. soybean exports tainted BY AUDRA ANG The Associated Press
BEIJING — China, on the defensive over the safety of its products, lashed out Wednesday at the U.S. by claiming its soybean exports contained pesticides, poisonous weeds and dirt and blaming American manufacturer Mattel Inc. in part for lead tainting that prompted the recall of millions of toys. China is facing a global backlash following discoveries of high levels of chemicals and toxins in a range of Chinese exports from toothpaste and seafood to pet food ingredients and toys. Beijing has tried to defend its safety record and reassure consumers by highlighting similar problems in other countries. “Numerous quality problems” have been found with American soybeans, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a notice posted Wednesday on its Web site. “We’ve already made exchanges with the United States, demanded an investigation into the cause, and asked that effective measures be taken to improve the situation to avoid similar incidents from happening again,” the Chinese watchdog agency said. One batch of beans in February was found to contain red beans and pesticides that constituted a “great potential hazard to the food safety of Chinese consumers,” it said. Soybeans, which are mainly crushed for oil and used as animal feed, are the biggest single U.S. farm export to China, according to the American Soybean Association. China has bought billions of dollars worth since the current market year began in September. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it had not received any official complaints from China about contaminated soybeans. “If any of our trading partners has a concern, the normal process with USDA requires that an official notification be made, and none has been raised here,” said Matt Herrick, a spokesman for the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
Venetian casino opens in China MACAU — With the crash of a champagne bottle against a gondola, Macau’s Venetian casino opened Tuesday, dwarfing anything in Las Vegas and big enough, its operators say, to shift the magnetic north of the gambling world to this small city in southern China. American billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, inaugurated the $2.4 billion Venetian Macao Resort Hotel on Cotai by smashing the bottle against the gondola. The boat will float down one of three indoor canals — the Venetian in Las Vegas has only one. Casinos like the Wynn and Adelson’s Sands have led this small city in southern China past the Las Vegas Strip as the world’s most lucrative gambling center.
‘Virgin chicken’ off the menu in China next year BEIJING — Hungry visitors to next summer’s Beijing Olympics won’t have to choose between “steamed crap” and “virgin chicken” if Chinese authorities succeed in ridding restaurant menus of mangled English translations. The Beijing Tourism Bureau has released a list with 2,753 proposed names for dishes and drinks, designed to replace bizarre and sometimes ridiculous translations on menus, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. Foreigners are often stumped by dish names such as “virgin chicken” (a young chicken dish) or “burnt lion’s head” (Chinese-style pork meatballs). Other garbled names include “The temple explodes the chicken cube” (kung pao chicken) or “steamed crap” (steamed carp). “These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China’s diet habits,” Xinhua said. Etiquette campaigns are afoot to stamp out bad manners such as jumping ahead in line, spitting, littering and reckless driving. The revised menu names are part of an effort to ban unintelligible English, known as “Chinglish,” that abounds on signs everywhere.
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