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China news tagged with: product safety (79)

• Chinese Drywall Bills Die in House Committee

  

  A bill proposed by G. Glenn Oder in the Virginia legislature to assist homeowners with problems experienced due to toxic Chinese drywall has died in a House Committee:

  Oder had proposed a bill that prevented insurance companies from excluding Chinese drywall in insurance coverage and another bill that would have stopped the companies from canceling insurance.

  Hundreds of homeowners in Virginia are affected by Chinese drywall, which emits a gas that corrodes metals and that homeowners say causes respiratory problems. The rotten-egg smell has forced many of them from their homes, causing them to have to pay rent and a mortgage while the government grapples with the problem.

  Homes in Newport News, York County, Williamsburg and southHampton Roads are affected, and homeowners say they’ve been told it will cost nearly as much to fix their homes as what they are worth.

  A similar bill that also would have prevented the canceling of insurance recently passed the Senate and is headed to the House… Oder said that on another front, he’s working with Gov. Bob McDonnell to lobby for federal money to help those suffering from the drywall mess.

  See also the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Drywall Information Center website.

  See also past CDT posts on Chinese drywall.

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  • February 16, 2010 11:17 PM

• South Florida Condos Being Tested for Safe, Cheaper Chinese Drywall Removal

  

  New technology could hopefully assist in repairing caustic drywall imported from China:

  As Florida and other parts of the nation continue to get their hands around the problems caused by home and condo units constructed with Chinese Drywall, there is some promising testing happening in South Florida that may  lead to less costly treatments than having to rip out the drywall and rebuilt.

  It may be possible, say scientists, to contain problematic bacteria apparently contained in Chinese Drywall and destroy it without removal. New technology could be used to “wrap” the bad bacteria to contain and destroy it. The cost to remove the drywall can easily  be in the tens of thousands of dollars. It is not yet clear how much the new treatment would cost, but I am told it will be much less.

  RealTime Laboratories, of Dallas Texas, announced it will begin testing drywall samples from a 300-unit condominium complex in Southern Florida to determine the presence of harmful bacteria, which may have led to the displacement of dozens of residents. RTL’s patent pending process uses DNA testing for sulfur producing bacteria in contaminated drywall samples. Because some of the condo owners involved are also filing lawsuits, the name of the condo community is not being released… research demonstrated that sulphur reducing and iron oxidizing bacteria have been isolated in contaminated drywall from homes in South Florida. Apparently, these types of bacteria have been reported in scientific literature as being able to live in ocean waters surrounding erupting volcanoes and in gypsum mines. Since these organisms are able to live in such harsh environments they produce their energy using a chemical process that emits hydrogen sulfide gas (“rotten egg smell”) as a by-product of their life cycle. Gypsum is a main ingredient in drywall and the RTL’s study demonstrated the presence of sulphur producing bacteria in contaminated drywall.

  See also past CDT posts on toxic drywall.

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  • February 15, 2010 9:11 PM

• Target Pulls Valentine’s Toys Over Lead Concerns

  

  The Washington Post reports on another product safety issue for Chinese exports – lead in toys:

  OAKLAND, Calif. — Target Corp. said Tuesday it was pulling its Valentine’s Day “Message Bears” from store shelves after California’s attorney general raised concerns that the toys have illegal levels of lead.

  The response comes a day after a letter sent by Attorney General Jerry Brown said testing of the holiday toys revealed lead levels that violate federal law.

  The products, which were made in China for Target’s in-house brand, were identified as the retailer’s two “Message Bears” – one a pink stuffed bear with “XOXO” across the chest and the other a brown stuffed bear with “I Love U” across the chest, with “love” represented by a heart.

  Investigators from the Center for Environmental Health, a nonprofit watchdog, found that the bears’ inflated vinyl letters contained well over federal limits for lead in products for children under the age of 12.

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  • February 12, 2010 1:15 AM

• Mattel Settles Suit Over Lead in China-Made Toys

  

  Mattel has settled a class action lawsuit over a recall of lead-tainted toys made in China, the Wall Street Journal reports:

  Co-plaintiff lead counsel Whatley Drake & Kallas said in a statement the settlement provides “tens of millions of dollars in monetary relief as well as significant injunctive relief.” According to the law firm, Mattel recalled over 14 million toys in the U.S. in 2006 and 2007.

  The world’s largest toy maker previously recorded charges to reserve for the litigation. The company, based in El Segundo, Calif., said final settlement won’t be material to its operating results.

  Mattel spokeswoman Lisa Marie Bongiovanni said Mattel wasn’t able to provide a figure for the total settlement, as it would depend on the total number of claims processed. Ms. Bongiovanni said the company felt confident about the estimates it made, but added Mattel would make adjustments in future quarters if participation rates required.

  Read more about the 2007 toy recalls via CDT.

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  • October 14, 2009 1:40 PM

• Beijing Sends Inspectors to Check on Factories Making “Made in India” Fake Drugs

  

  As reported in the Times of India, the government of Nigeria has claimed that imported pharmaceuticals that were labeled “Made in India” were actually created in China:

  The matter came to light after The Times of India reported that Nigeria’s Drug Regulatory Authority has seized a large consignment of fake anti-malaria drugs that were made in China but stamped ‘Made in India’ to escape blame. The TOI report resulted in the Indian government lodging a protest with China. 

  “We are highly concerned about the case and are sending investigating officials to the Chinese provinces involved, including Guangdong,” SFDA spokesperson Yan Jiangying told a press conference. 

  The statement shows that SFDA headquarters is Beijing does not fully trust its provincial units to carry out monitoring and investigation into the concerned company. It came soon after the SFDA hit out against a report in a British daily saying that fake Chinese drugs are flooding the United Kingdom. 

   

  See also past posts on counterfeit medicine.

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  • June 13, 2009 9:14 AM

• French Cars Fail Tests in China

  

  From BBC:

  China has stopped importing several French-made models of Renault cars, after a safety watchdog said it had found “safety problems”.

  A Renault spokesperson said problems had occurred in transport and storage but not the manufacturing of some cars.

  The ban was announced three days after honorary citizenship of Paris was given to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

  See this previous CDT post for more on the Dalai Lama’s honorary Parisian citizenship.

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  • June 11, 2009 11:45 AM

• Mattel Fined $2.3 Million for Tainted Toys from China

  

  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has fined Mattel $2.3 million for lead-tainted toys that it imported from china.

  The fine stems from the toymaker’s 2007 recall of 95 types of toys and up to 2 million units, primarily for excessive lead in paint. The toys were made in China, the CPSC said.

  The settlement, the third largest in the CPSC’s history, resolves a government case against Mattel and its Fisher-Price subsidiary. The government claimed that Mattel knowingly imported and sold toys containing lead paint in 2007… A 1978 law bans toys and other children’s articles that have more than 0.06 percent lead by weight in coatings. 

  From the June 5, 2009 CPSC news release:

  “These highly publicized toy recalls helped spur Congressional action last year to strengthen CPSC and make even stricter the ban on lead paint on toys,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Thomas Moore. “This penalty should serve notice to toy makers that CPSC is committed to the safety of children, to reducing their exposure to lead, and to the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.”

  See also the 2007 news releases for “Sarge” die cast toy cars, Barbie Accessory Toys, and Fisher-Price Character Toys.

  A CBS report from 2007:
  
   

  See also past CDT posts on product safety.

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  • June 5, 2009 9:04 PM

• China-Made Kid’s Products Unsafe: State Media

  

  From the Times of India:

  BEIJING: Nearly half of the clothing and a third of the furniture made for children in China’s top manufacturing province is unsafe, with many products containing harmful chemicals, state media said on Thursday. 

  The discovery was made in an official investigation by authorities in the southern province of Guangdong, the centre of China’s manufactured export industry, the China Daily reported. 

  It said just 53.5 percent of garments surveyed met safety standards, with many containing excess amounts of formaldehyde… As for children’s furniture, 67.7 percent of it was deemed safe, with some of the questionable products containing too much formaldehyde or health-endangering heavy metals including lead, cadmium and chromium. 

  The original report in the China Daily:

  The administration tested 60 children’s garments made by 43 companies and found just 31 items met safety standards.

  Lin Ruixi, administration press officer, said problems with the garments included false information about raw materials, poor color fastness and excessive content of the chemical formaldehyde… Parents said they were concerned by the results of the tests and called on the government to make more regular quality inspections.

  “It’s unbelievable that half of my daughter’s clothes are potentially unsafe,” Lu Junhua, father of a six-year old girl in Guangzhou, said.

  

  See also past CDT posts on product safety.

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  • May 28, 2009 11:27 PM

• Chinese Drywall Poses Potential Risks

  

  Another Chinese product safety issue has arisen, that of toxic drywall.

  At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap.

  Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and possibly sicken people… Researchers do not know yet what causes the reaction, but possible culprits include fumigants sprayed on the drywall and material inside it. The Chinese drywall is also made with a coal byproduct called fly ash that is less refined than the form used by U.S. drywall makers.

  Dozens of homeowners in the Southeast have sued builders, suppliers and manufacturers, claiming the very walls around them are emitting smelly sulfur compounds that are poisoning their families and rendering their homes uninhabitable… Builders have filed their own lawsuits against suppliers and manufacturers, claiming they unknowingly used the bad building materials.

  It is estimated that 100,000 houses in the US could have been affected.  It has also been claimed that the drywall emits sulfur gasses that are causing respiratory ailments.
  
  There are plans to ban China-made drywall.  A class-auction law suit is pending.

  See also past CDT posts on noxious drywall.

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  • April 11, 2009 10:28 AM

• China Move to Global Standards Damps Protectionism

  

  Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), a US-based product safety  group, announced that Chinese product standards were improving, and the recognition of such standards would help decrease economic protectionism:

  Keith Williams, UL’s chief executive, told Reuters that China’s product safety regulatory regime was improving, while the growth of Chinese brands globally was also raising awareness of the importance of product safety…”People are clearly concerned about protectionism,” said Williams. “What we do facilitates trade and protects reputable manufacturers,” he said…

  Food safety demands likely will cause trade tensions with China, which is both a top market for U.S. food exports and a growing supplier to the United States, Rosa DeLauro, a U.S. lawmaker, said last week.

  About a quarter of UL’s global workforce of 6,800 is based in China — not including significant staffing in Taiwan and Hong Kong — due to its emergence as a global manufacturing center.

  See past CDT posts on food and product safety.

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  • March 24, 2009 10:26 AM

• China clears Johnson & Johnson Products After Probe

  

  The Times of India reports that China’s Food and Drug Association has tested and cleared Johnson & Johnson products of allegedly containing carcinogens.  The charges started when the US-based Campaign for Safe Cosmetics claimed that several products contained formaldehyde.

  
  The charges caused a bit of panic in China, where product safety has become a major issue because of recent scandals like the melamine contamination in daily milk of one of the major producers. Nong Gong Shang, a Shanghai-based supermarket chain, removed Johnson Baby Shampoo from its shelves. Another supermarket in the central city of Chongqing pulled three kind of baby products from their shelves.

  Another official agency, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. also carried out tests on 31 batches of bath products made by Johnson & Johnson’s China operations. The tests showed they met the standard for formaldehyde, the official Xinhua news agency said.

  See also past CDT posts on product safety.
  

  
  

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  • March 21, 2009 5:00 PM

• China’s Milk Victims Complain of Intimidation (Updated)

  

  Earlier this month, Chinese courts began accepting milk contamination-related lawsuits. Now, however, families are saying that local officials are contacting them, asking them to drop their cases. From AP’s Anita Chang:

  Families whose children fell ill from tainted milk have come under pressure to drop compensation lawsuits, victims’ advocates said Tuesday, showing the government’s lingering uneasiness over one of China’s worst contamination scandals.

  Local officials were calling and visiting at least a half-dozen families, urging them to drop their cases against the dairies and accept a government-sanctioned compensation plan giving 2,000 yuan ($290) to most victims, said Zhao Lianhai, the father of a child sickened by the milk.

  At least one family has decided to back out of their lawsuit, said Zhao, who has rallied other families through a Web site he created.

  “One parent told me, ‘I’m more than 30 years old but I’ve never before seen the county and village officials. Everyone in the family is really scared,’” said Lu Jun, an AIDS activist who has been working with families of tainted milk victims in central China’s Henan province.

  Update: Meanwhile, Chinese government officials and health authorities are battling other food/product safety issues. The Wall Street Journal Blog mentions crackdowns on water-injected meat:

  Authorities in Shanghai plan to launch an effort to put a stop to the practice of adding water to meat, according to a local media report. Citywide inspections will follow the confiscation of five kilograms of meat from Jiashan in Zhejiang Province thought to have been injected with water. Already, one local market has stopped selling meat from Jiashan.

  At issue is a practice that involves meat processors injecting water into animals before or after slaughter, adding weight – and therefore fetching a higher price. The practice, which has also popped up in other countries, degrades the meat and can add bacteria.

  In addition, American company Johnson & Johnson’s baby products are under investigation for contamination in China. American department store Nordstrom is also recalling girls’ shoes made in China that contain harmful traces of lead paint.

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  • March 18, 2009 11:38 AM

• China 2008: Food & Product Safety

  

  CDT has produced a series of posts which summarize the key issues facing China in 2008. This latest installment focuses on food and product safety. Previous post in the China 2008 series include: China and the Developing World, Nationalism, Internet Culture, and Identity, Environmental Crisis, The Global Financial Crisis, the Revaluation of the Yuan, Human Rights, and China’s domestic market.

  In the recent past, there have been many food safety issues in China.  2004 was a scandalous year for tainted foods in China: a counterfeit milk powder resulted in over 60 infant deaths; noodles tainted with lead; vegetables pickled with pesticides and industrial-grade salt; counterfeit alcohol resulted in four deaths by alcohol poisoning; and soy sauces discovered to be made from human hair. In 2005, it was discovered that many firms in China, including Heinz and Kentucky Fried Chicken, were using Sudan I Red Dye in food, a product that was banned in 1996 for causing cancer. In 2006, counterfeit drugs resulted in 16 deaths, and pesticide residue was discovered on exported vegetables.  In 2007, melamine-tainted pet food was exported around the world, resulting in untold numbers of animal deaths; China-made toothpaste was discovered to contain a toxic chemical found in antifreeze; and seafood was tainted with antibiotics, all raising international fears of Chinese food contamination.

  In 2008, food and product safety issues that had been smoldering in China finally erupted in a rash of scandals, most having to do with melamine-tainting in food products such as milk, eggs, ammonium bicarbonate, protein powder, and animal feed, but also including food poisoned with pesticides, a maggot outbreak in oranges, hazardous toys, and toxic furniture.
  

  Melamine poisoning reappeared during the tainted milk scandal this summer.  Melamine, a chemical used in the production of plastics, had been regularly and systematically added to watered-down milk by producers in order to give it a higher protein value when tested.  Melamine in such high doses, however, causes kidney stones which can lead to death. The issue first broke on July 16, when several babies were hospitalized with kidney stones.  The extent of the milk poisoning was staggering; by October, an estimated 94,000 children had already been affected, and, to date, officially six have died as a result of the tainted milk.

  The investigation that followed discovered that one of the largest and most powerful milk companies, the state-owned Sanlu Group Company, had received complaints about their product sickening children as early as December 2007, but did not test their products until June of 2008.  After the contamination was discovered, the local government did not report it immediately to provincial and national authorities; rather, Sanlu had written to the local authorities asking for assistance in controlling the media surrounding the scandal.  As the news was leaked, Sanlu attempted to cover it up by buying critics’ silence, and allegedly hired a PR firm which offered search engine giant Baidu money to censor news of the scandal.

  The milk tainting made huge waves in Chinese cyberspace, with many netizens demanding revenge and calling for the perpetrators to commit suicide.  In the end, Sanlu’s general manager, twelve milk dealers, and six melamine sellers were arrested.  Many parents claimed that their children also died of the milk poisoning, but the government denied these accusations; at one point, the government stopped recording the number of children infected, stating that, since it was not a communicable disease, it did not need to be tracked.  The Chinese courts have rejected a lawsuit against Sanlu brought by the parents, and it remains to be seen if the guilty will be found and punished.

  In order to dispose of the tainted milk, it was dumped in local rivers, buried, or burned.  Some companies also experimented making bricks with the tainted milk.
  

  The World Health Organization publicly criticized Beijing for waiting so long before releasing information on the tainted milk and its export abroad.  Countries around the world were recipients of tainted food and several banned Chinese milk imports. Representatives of the Taiwanese and Chinese governments met to discuss issues over food safety.  Due to the scandal, the US imposed an import ban on Chinese milk products, as well as opened a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) office in Beijing.
  

  The melamine tainting did not stop with milk – besides milk derivatives (such as milk powder), it expanded to include eggs, and products made with milk and eggs, such as chocolate.  Melamine was also added to ammonium bicarbonate, resulting in tainted baked goods.

  Issues surrounding food safety took a sinister turn when it was discovered that some of the food products made in China had actually been deliberately poisoned, either in Japan or en route to their market. In January 2008, dumplings made in China and poisoned with insecticides injured over 500 people.  Later, in September, frozen beans made in China were also found to be contaminated with a pesticide; a hole in the bag indicated that the beans had been deliberately poisoned. No arrests were made.

  Besides tainted foods, other products were affected as well, such as hazardous toys and furniture that was made in China and treated with an anti-fungal agent that caused rashes in some people.

  China has been called the “factory of the world”.  As an exporting county, it depends on producing items quickly and cheaply.  Wave upon wave of product safety scandals has crippled the international market for such products as Chinese milk, and has cast a long shadow on all products Chinese.  Although the CCP has made recent efforts to increase its inspections, this has been one of the largest international food safety issues and the fear of Chinese products will be difficult to overcome.

  For more posts on food safety, click here.  For posts on product safety, click here.

  » Read more
  • December 9, 2008 7:15 PM

• U.S., Europe Warn China on Toy Safety

  

  Both the European Union and the United States have urged China to increase its safety efforts, particularily towards unsafe toys, as the holiday season approaches.  In 2007, over 20 million Chinese toys were recalled for a variety of reasons, including the use of lead paint.

  “Over 50 percent of dangerous products notified during January to September originated from China (56 percent). This represents an increase compared to the first nine months of 2007, when 472 reported cases (47 percent) had China as the country of origin,” the European Commission said in a statement printed in the Reuters piece.  According to Reuters, the EU’s executive Commission “oversees product safety” for a 27-member group and stated that the increase in recalls is attributed to “more effective market surveillance.”

  … [EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva:] “Since last year, there is quite a good improvement … but I cannot say for certain that Chinese toys are 100 percent safe this Christmas.  I will be telling member states to step up their surveillance ahead of Christmas with a view to cracking down on unsafe products.”

  E.U. and U.S. representatives met with the Chinese representative in Brussels November 17th to sign an agreement “aimed at enforcing product safety standards and exchanging information on food safety.”

  A week later, China’s Foreign Ministry urged factories in China to avoid using unsafe foreign designs in their products:

  “The Chinese government pays great attention to toy quality and demands toy makers keep the bar high for quality too,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang told a news conference.

  “Related Chinese quality departments continue to increase quality checks on toys, especially those which are exported. If problems are found, then none of these products is allowed to be exported.”

  “For example, some Chinese toy makers manufacture based off foreign orders and designs, and then export. Then when problems are found they are found with the design. Those designs came from abroad.”

  See also past CDT posts on toy safety.

  [Image courtesy of the UN Population Fund.]

  » Read more
  • November 25, 2008 8:41 PM

• China’s Melamine Woes Likely to Get Worse

  

  Time Magazine looks back at the crisis over product safety in China and around the world in 2007, and asks why nothing changed since then:

  A year later, that foreign criticism of China’s food safety problems doesn’t seem so groundless. Now Chinese consumers are asking why the government can’t seem to get control of a problem like toxic foods, or even a specific contaminant like melamine that has now become painfully common. “Everyone has asked why this country that can send an astronaut into space and have the most successful Olympic Games cannot provide safe milk to its own children,” says Dali Yang, director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago. While Yang acknowledges that ethical failures in the Chinese dairy industry led to the current crisis, the ultimate blame still falls on the government. “Fundamentally it is an issue of government responsibility. In any society you can hope everyone acts with good intentions, but you cannot trust them to always do that,” he says. ” The greatest irony is that with all the international criticism last year, they knew there were problems. They did some spot checks, but the bureaucratic system didn’t pick this up as a significant issue.”

  It is the spotty nature of the enforcement mechanism that is causing the biggest headaches.

  Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that the use of dangerous substances in milk is an “open secret” in China’s dairy industry, while Chinese officials insist that recently discovered contaminated eggs are an “isolated case.”

  » Read more
  • November 4, 2008 12:08 PM

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