Following news that poisoned toothpaste imported to Panama may have come from China, the Washington Post offers another report on the ubiquity of contaminated imports from China, which U.S. officials have done little to stem. Last month alone, more than 1,000 counterfeit or tainted food, medicines, cosmetics or dietary supplements were detained at U.S. ports:
For years, U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States with foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have simply returned to Chinese importers the small portion of those products they caught — many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making a second or third attempt at entry.
Now the confluence of two events — the highly publicized contamination of U.S. chicken, pork and fish with tainted Chinese pet food ingredients and this week’s resumption of high-level economic and trade talks with China — has activists and members of Congress demanding that the United States tell China it is fed up. [Full text]
