Free Republic

Last year, a German tourist traveling through China spotted a set of nested salt and pepper shakers: The slender cylinder of pepper rested perfectly in the center of the doughnut-shaped salt holder. It was a sleek design. It was also, he recognized, an almost exact copy of the successful Two-in-One salt-and-pepper set made by Geislingen (Germany)-based WMF, and he sent it to the company. As a result, the maker of the imitation—Shantou Lian Plastic Products of Guangdong, China—is one of 13 winners of the Plagiarius Award, a dubious honor bestowed on makers and distributors of the "best" (which is to...

By Bill RoggioFebruary 8, 2008 6:49 PM Gadhan.jpg Adam Gadahn. One day after a Pakistani newspaper reported al Qaeda propagandist Adam Gadahn may have been killed in the same airstrike that killed al Qaeda leader Abu Laith al Libi, the rumor remains unconfirmed. Speculation over Gadahn's presence at the al Qaeda safe house in North Waziristan began on Jan. 29, the day of the airstrike. An unnamed US official denied Gadahn was killed in the strike. But on Feb. 7, The News reported, based on statements from Western sources, that Gadahn was killed in the airstrike. Gadahn was believed to...

(COLORADO SPRINGS) — When a caterer working for the United States Olympic Committee went to a supermarket in China last year, he encountered a piece of chicken — half of a breast — that measured 14 inches. “Enough to feed a family of eight,” said Frank Puleo, a caterer from Staten Island who has traveled to China to handle food-related issues. “We had it tested and it was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive.” In preparing to take a delegation of more than 600 athletes to the...

Good Neighbor Forum is proud to announce Mr. Lyle Laverty, US Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, will speak at the: 2nd Annual Good Neighbor Forum Topic: Food in the 21st Century How policies including conservation easements, ESA, Water, Roadless, EU, precautionary principles and trade will impact your food supply. March 15, 2008 9:00 am - 4:00 pm For more information contact: Roni 970-284-6874 Featured Speakers include Mr. Lawrence Kogan, Esq. - N.J. Will address Precautionary Principle, European Union and more. Dr. Corey Ciochhetti - CO Will address Ethics and Essence of being a...

February 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dr. Mark Miravalle's sobering book, The Seven Sorrows of China, gives, in heart-wrenching detail, accounts of the brutality of the one-child policy and its effects on the Chinese people.Dr. Miravalle's account of his often intense experiences as he travels through modern China provides a disturbingly realistic picture of life outside of Beijing. The following is an excerpt from Part III of Dr. Miravalle's book, entitled The Third Sorrow: Abortion Without Conscience: The Indoctrination of a Nation: "The most alarming," he writes, "the most depressing, the most Copernican revelation of all that I have been...

BEIJING — A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs. Chinese drug regulators have accused the manufacturer of the tainted drugs of a cover-up and have closed the factory that produced them. In December, China’s Food and Drug Administration said that the Shanghai police had begun a criminal investigation and that two officials, including the head of the plant, had been detained. The drug maker, Shanghai...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A video showing California slaughterhouse workers abusing dairy cows -- a violation that raises questions about U.S. food safety -- was released by the Humane Society of the United States on Wednesday. The video, which one lawmaker said raises questions about the safety of the nation's food supply, shows Hallmark Meat Packing Co. workers administering repeated electric shocks to the downed cows -- animals that are too sick, weak or otherwise unable to stand on their own. Workers are seen kicking cows, jabbing them near their eyes, ramming them with a forklift and shooting high-intensity water up...

Customs officers have seized hundreds of headless rats which were being smuggled to London So African diners could crunch into their bones and flesh. Hundreds of rat corpses - which had been smoked to improve their flavour - were found at Tilbury Docks, in London. The grisly discovery was made by customs officials as they made a routine inspection of a shipment of synthetic hair at the docks. Closer investigation revealed boxes containing the carcases of 340 kilos of headless rats. The giant cane rats, which had been smoked prior to shipping, arrived in a shipment from Ghana and are...

No one can accuse the fine public servants of California’s Department of Food and Agriculture of sitting on their hands, and letting raw milk coliforms threaten the health and safety of California consumers. No, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. The junior he-men, working on behalf of the senior he-man-terminator, are out there…fighting the common enemy, raw milk coliforms.

(DENVER, CO) -- Last summer DC Brands International (PINKSHEETS: DCBR) announced its intention to acquire Hard Nutrition, the Denver-based vitamin and supplement company, to develop a groundbreaking new line of products. This beverage line would compete with the likes of Vitamin Water for the health conscious consumer, while delivering more bang for the buck. To accomplish this, DC Brands addressed the fundamental flaw in such products: if you put enough of the vitamins and supplements that your body needs in the water itself, you end up with a product that tastes so bad you cannot drink it. As a result,...

The blue area throughout the center of this image shows the cool sea surface temperature along the equator in the Pacific Ocean during this La Nina episode.Cool, wet conditions in the Northwest, frigid weather on the Plains, and record dry conditions in the Southeast, all signs that La Nina is in full swing. With winter gearing up, a moderate La Nina is hitting its peak. And we are just beginning to see the full effects of this oceanographic phenomenon, as La Nina episodes are typically strongest in January. A La Nina event occurs when cooler than normal sea surface temperatures...

Can Russian GPS system track my dog? Putin asks Mon Dec 24, 9:18 AM ET President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he was keen to use Russia's planned global positioning system GLONASS to look after his black Labrador Koni. "When can I buy hardware to equip my dog with so that she won't run away too far?" Putin was quoted as asking First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov during a briefing on progress towards developing a competitor to the U.S. GPS system. Russia is working to expand GLONASS, a system which locates objects on the ground using orbital satellites, and...

Antibiotics in the meat, pesticide used as preservatives, mercury in the drinking water -- Chinese author Zhou Qing says China's food industry is poisoning the country in its greed for profit. If ordinary people knew, there would be a revolution, he adds. Chinese journalist Zhou Qing, a critic of the regime, unearthed political dynamite in his two-year investigation of China's food industry. He interviewed grocers, restaurant owners, farmers and food factory managers for an exposé for which he won a prize as part of the German "Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage" in 2006. His book is a...

(FUQING, China) — Here in southern China, beneath the looming mountains of Fujian Province, lie dozens of enormous ponds filled with murky brown water and teeming with eels, shrimp and tilapia, much of it destined for markets in Japan and the West. Fuqing is one of the centers of a booming industry that over two decades has transformed this country into the biggest producer and exporter of seafood in the world, and the fastest-growing supplier to the United States. But that growth is threatened by the two most glaring environmental weaknesses in China: acute water shortages and water supplies contaminated...

AUSTRALIAN scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say. Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas. -snip- Even farmers who laugh at the idea of environmentally friendly kangaroo farts say that's nothing to joke about, particularly given the devastating drought Australia is suffering. -snip-

AP Business Writer Tyson Foods Inc. plans to revise labels that say its fresh chicken is "raised without antibiotics" after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it made a mistake in approving labels that use that term. The world's largest meat processor said it has been in discussions with the USDA since at least September about the label it introduced this summer in a major marketing campaign for its fresh chicken. According to a Nov. 6 letter from the USDA, the agency told Tyson it had mistakenly overlooked a feed additive, called ionophores, used for Tyson's chicken when it approved...

The government has a duty to look after the health of everyone and sometimes that means guiding or restricting our choices Lord John Krebs, of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Government ministers should shrug off media accusations that they are running a nanny state and introduce tougher public health measures, experts say. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics said the time had come to consider a whole host of interventions in the UK after the introduction of a smoking ban. Its proposes raising alcohol prices, restricting pub opening hours and better food labelling to fight obesity. The government said it was...

Trade jitters, anti-China sentiment rouse voters By Andrea Hopkins Wed Nov 14, 1:56 PM ET It could be expected that Iraq would play a big role in the 2008 U.S. election campaign. But if recent populist rallies are an indication, another country may be rousing even more anger from voters: China. In all corners of an overflowing convention room this week in the industrial Rust-Belt city of Pittsburgh, voters, union officials and company executives alike railed against unfair trade -- and demanded U.S. politicians do something. "Our government refuses to stand up to the Chinese and make a level playing...

Where are the grocers? Chicagoans have been asking that question for some time now. Supermarkets followed middle-income families out of urban areas and into the suburbs 40 years ago, said Andy Fisher, executive director of the Community Food Security Coalition, a Los Angeles-based non-profit dedicated to helping low-income people get better access to nutritious food. But, indeed, the situation is steadily improving: grocers are returning to city neighborhoods that are gentrifying. Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Strack & Van Til, Garden Fresh Market and a yet-to-be-named entrant owned by Roundy's are vying against dominant players Jewel-Osco and Dominick's. Specialty delis and...

Thailand saves pangolins bound for China restaurants Nov. 10, 2007 BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai Customs officers said Saturday they have rescued more than 100 pangolins and arrested three men attempting to smuggle the endangered animals to China, where they were destined for the cooking pot. Customs officers Friday intercepted three pick-up trucks of pangolins, or scaly anteaters, which were to be smuggled across Laos to southwest China. The pangolins, worth an estimated one million baht (29,400 dollars), were trapped in the Indonesian jungle and smuggled via Malaysia and southern Thailand. "We investigated and found out that those pangolins are from...

U.S. agriculture giant Cargill recalls ground beef Agricultural giant Cargill Inc. said on Saturday it is recalling over 1 million pounds of ground beef distributed in the United States because of possible E. Coli contamination. Cargill Meat Solutions said the 1.084 million pounds (491,700 kg) of ground beef was produced at the Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, facility between October 8 and October 11, and distributed to retailers across the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture returned a confirmed positive for the E. coli bacteria on a sample produced on October 8, the company said. Symptoms of E. coli 0157:H7 illness, the strain...

As Congress haggles over the farm bill, it is time again to consider updating the legislation. The Agriculture Adjustment Act, passed “to relieve the … national economic emergency” of the Great Depression has been the basis for most major agricultural legislation since the 1930s. The basic emphasis of each farm bill has been to raise the prices of crops and livestock in order to help farmers. Recently, President Bush has proposed changes in farm policy that are projected to reduce spending by $10 billion over the next five years. This is a step in the right direction, but it still...

WASHINGTON - Sept. 29, 2007 - Topps Meat Company, LLC, an Elizabeth, NJ, establishment, is voluntarily expanding its Sept. 25 recall to include a total of approximately 21.7 million pounds of frozen ground beef products because they may be contaminated with E. coli, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today. The recall is being expanded based on an additional positive product sample reported by the New York Health Department, reported illnesses and findings from a food safety assessment conducted by FSIS at the establishment. There are currently 25 illnesses under investigation in Connecticut, Florida, Indiana,...

(TAIPEI, Taiwan) -- Some 92 percent of Chinese made medicines examined by local health authorities in the past few years, including those promoted for weight loss, as health foods, or herbal medicines, were found to contain banned drugs, Executive Yuan's Secretary-General Chen Ching-jun said at a news conference yesterday. According to Chen, the Department of Health (DOH) conducted examinations from 2005 to 2007 on 151 medicines submitted by local courts, health bureaus, police units, and customs offices and found that 139 failed tests for containing illegal substances. Chen said Taiwan has not lifted the ban on imports of Chinese-made medicines....

WASHINGTON — Simplicity Inc., a supplier of baby furniture to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and other big retailers, is recalling about 1 million Chinese-made baby cribs which have been linked to at least two infant deaths, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Friday. The drop-side can detach from the crib, which can create a dangerous gap that leads to an infant being trapped and suffocated, the safety agency said in a statement. It urged parents to check all Simplicity-made cribs to ensure the drop-side is installed correctly. The cribs, priced between $100 and $300, were sold by U.S. retailers...

(WASHINGTON) -- The Food and Drug Administration responded to jitters over Chinese imports recently by banning some of that country's seafood because of contaminants, but the agency has failed to apply the same standard to seafood supplied from other large exporters that use the same chemicals and fish-farming techniques. Imports from Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, for instance, have continued apace, even though fish-farming techniques in those countries are similar to those cited by the FDA when it issued an import alert in June targeting Chinese fish. "This is not just a China problem," said Bradford Ward, a Washington attorney who...

Local importers who chose to discuss their testing efforts said they are primarily boosting precautions they were already taking. Matthew Fass started getting panicked calls and e-mails from his customers early in the summer. Concerns about tainted seafood from China had surfaced even before federal regulators issued an order to hold and test all imports of five types of Chinese-raised fish. Fass, president of Maritime Products International in Newport News, has sold bay scallops, catfish and other seafood from China for more than a decade. He had to jump to alleviate customers' fears. "How do we know that your product...

(FOSHAN, China) - At first, it was just some of the piglets. The mother gave birth to 13, all of them stillborn. Within a few weeks, however, she and other adult pigs in neighboring stalls became feverish and died. By the end of the summer, all but a handful of the village's 300 pigs had succumbed to the mysterious disease. "It was quick, very quick. Before we knew something was wrong, they were all dead," said Lo Jinyuan, a 55-year-old pig farmer in the village of Shandi. Moving rapidly from one farm to the next, the virus has been devastating...

Sometimes a restaurant screws up a dish with too much of this or too little of that. The customer complains and maybe gets a refund. Less frequently, the cook gets jail time. That's what happened early Friday morning in Union City, a small town in the southern suburbs of Atlanta. A McDonald's worker put too much salt on a Big N' Tasty burger that was served to a Union City police officer who got sick and was briefly hospitalized. The worker, Kendra Bull, 20, was arrested, handcuffed, charged with reckless conduct at 1:30 a.m. and spent the rest of the...

Both of our dogs were very sick at once, so we suspected it could be the pet food. So my husband called the company, and they said there were no recalls at this point in time, so my husband asked if the wheat gluten still comes from China. They told him that they make it in the U.S., but will use the "global market" (code word for China, imo) if they can't make enough in the U.S. to meet their demands. I decided to start giving our dogs people food, and they are both feeling great; in fact, the old...

China could become a major exporter of beef despite concerns over health and safety and government practices that restrict imports to China, a U.S. cattle industry spokesman told the federal International Trade Commission Thursday. Eric Nelson, representing the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund/United Stock Growers of America, testified on how Chinese government practices and policies could affect U.S. agriculture, particularly beef and cattle. Nelson is chairman of R-CALF/USA's trade committee. With reports of China using lead-based paint on toys and including deadly contaminants in pet food as a backdrop to the hearing, Nelson said China doesn't currently export much beef to...

US and Chinese officials recently met in Beijing for agricultural trade talks. However, the two parties failed to agree with issues regarding poultry trade. China's zero-tolerance for salmonella in raw poultry was discussed in length. "How can you produce poultry without traces of salmonella? It's killed when you cook it," said USDA's Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Mark Keenum, who led the US delegation. As for China, "They simply reaffirmed their position," he stated. On the other hand, Keenum said that the USDA is working to produce rules that would allow China to export cooked chicken products to...

Why does Mattel's third recall of China-made toys in less than six weeks prove that concern over global warming is nothing but a luxury that only people in the developed world have the time and lifestyle to indulge? Well, it proves that only indirectly. But it does show how easily elites in the West miss real threats by becoming preoccupied with fashionable (and meaningless) causes. China is a mess. Its environment is one of the most hazardous in the world; not only to its own citizens, but increasingly to others as well. This summer, there have been reports that Chinese...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Try searching for a culprit in the 90 brands caught up in the recent recall of canned chili, stew and other products, and you weave back to a single manufacturer. That also was the case in recalls of spinach, pet food and frozen meat. Companies increasingly are paying others to make the foods we eat — or the ingredients in them — and then selling it under multiple brand names. And that has prompted a growing debate about food safety. "If people cannot trace a product back to a supplier, the supplier has no incentives to keep...

Recent scares have raised concerns about the safety of food products sold in supermarkets. But ingredient suppliers say brand-name food producers enforce strict safety standards. From pet food deliberately adulterated with melamine, to contaminated toothpaste and seafood with drug residues, a number of recent scares have raised questions about the safety of food imported from China and other parts of the world. So how much can Americans trust our food supply? Consider one of those frozen prepared meals found in a supermarket freezer — for example, Weight Watchers' ravioli florentine. The box bears a long list of ingredients: wheat,...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Toys "R" Us and the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday recalled 27,000 crayon and paint box sets because the printed ink on the outer packaging of the wood cases contains lead. Moreover, the CPSC said some of the black watercolor paint in the set contains excessive levels of lead, which violates the federal lead paint standard. The "Imaginarium" box sets were sold at Toys "R" Us stores and on the retailer's Website from Oct. 2006 through Aug. 2007. The recall involves the "Imaginarium" brand 213 Piece Wooden Coloring Case which includes crayons, pastels, colored pencils,...

Wheat prices climbed for a fifth consecutive session Thursday, and the most heavily traded contract hit a new all-time high on the Chicago Board of Trade as traders continue to price in robust worldwide demand and shrinking supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that wheat supplies available for export plummeted in July and said "stocks could be driven down to unprecedented low levels." Rain, frost and drought in different parts of the European Union ravaged wheat crops this year, leaving the EU with less to export and boosting its import requirements. Poor weather also ruined crops in the...

John Michael of Bethesda stood in the supermarket aisle comparing labels on two cans of mackerel. One said "product of China"; the other, "product of Peru." For Michael, it was a no-brainer. No seafood from China for him, given the recent news of tainted Chinese imports. He wants to know where his food comes from. "Country-of-origin labeling is important to me for food safety reasons," said the 75-year-old grandfather. "My family's health is top priority." Eighty-two percent of U.S. shoppers agree with Michael, according to a survey released in March by the consumer advocacy group Food and Water Watch. And...

I'm not saying Chinese products are crap. I'm saying they are dangerous crap. I'm saying that you can only have trade with people who have integrity, and people who poison kids and animals don't have integrity. And, unless I'm misunderstanding all this, we had thousands of American pets killed by Chinese crap products. We've had almost 20 million American toys recalled because they were made by Chinese crap manufacturers. We've had poison Chinese crap toothpaste – with a lethal anti-freeze ingredient included – sold to Americans and other people around the world. Just yesterday, consumer advocates in New Zealand warned...

Consumers should not eat one brand of baby carrots sold recently at Costco stores because of contamination by shigella, which causes fever, nausea and vomiting, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has warned. The carrots are labelled Los Angeles Salad Company Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots, and they come from Mexico. Costco has issued a voluntary recall of the carrots, which are known to have made four people sick. They were sold in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland. The carrots are sold in 672-gram bags, carrying these codes: ITM 50325, and UPC 8 31129 00137 7. The sell-by dates are...

(MAYUGE) - If you are a farmer, you may want to think twice about flushing your urine down the toilet. Urine may be a waste product but it also has many uses, and the best part of it is that it comes with no price tag. Farmers in various parts of the country use human urine as fertilizers and to fight crop diseases. The method started in Baitambogwe Village in Mayuge District but has now spread to over 21 districts. Through knowledge sharing via telephone Short Message System commonly known as SMS, farmers in Baitambogwe are propagating the method to...

Radio sensing stations to track traffic and cargo up and down the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway corridor are being installed by Communist China, operating through a port operator subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa, in conjunction with Lockheed Martin and the North America's SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc. The idea is that RFID chips placed in containers where manufactured goods are shipped from China will be able to be tracked to the Mexican ports on the Pacific where the containers are unloaded onto Mexican trucks and trains for transportation on the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway to destinations within the United States. NASCO, a trade association based...

Law would streamline regulations -- if it passes The apple-blackberry sauce sold widely in Seattle supermarkets, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture organic seal on the label, says it comes from Chino, Calif. It also says "Product of Canada." So how do you know where it's from? You don't. Dried banana chips are labeled as being from Sumner. But banana trees don't grow in Sumner. Peanut butter from Canada? There are no peanut farms in that country. Congress passed a law in 2002 saying that consumers were to be told where the food they buy comes from. But five years...

(BEIJING) - China's problems with lead in consumer products go far beyond tainted toys. From playthings to paint to gasoline, Chinese companies use lead in a wide range of products and experts say China's children are suffering the health consequences. Beijing has prohibited leaded gasoline in recent years and has tightened standards for other goods. But enforcement is spotty, and lead is still so common that researchers say up to one-fifth of Chinese children tested had unsafe levels in their blood. In comparison, about 310,000 U.S. children ages 1 to 5, or less than 2 percent of that population, have...

Official: China knew about magnets BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China knew about problems with magnets on toys as long ago as March, an industry official said on Wednesday, following a second massive recall of Chinese-made Mattel toys due to hazards from small, powerful magnets. Mattel's Barbie and Tanner doll set is one of the products being recalled. 1 of 2 Mattel Inc. the largest U.S. toy company, recalled millions more Chinese-made toys on Tuesday due to hazards from the magnets and lead paint, and warned it may recall additional products as it steps up testing. "We knew about the situation,...

Under proposed new regulations Beijing authorities will offer rewards to people who provide tip-offs that lead to the prosecution of those who put public health at risk. It comes a day after a Chinese TV reporter, who fabricated a story about how Beijing dumpling makers used cardboard as a filling, was sentenced to one-year in jail. "Main government officials or managers will be warned, demoted or sacked if food safety accidents which cause a serious social impact happen frequently in their administered districts," the Beijing Youth Daily said. "One-third of the new regulation details punishments," said one senior official who...

(BEIJING) - Chinese police raided a village where live pigs were force-fed wastewater to boost their weight ahead of a trip to the slaughterhouse, state media said, in the latest case to highlight the country's poor food safety record. Four trucks packed with 80 live pigs were found by Beijing police on Wednesday in a vacant lot on the southern outskirts of the capital, the Beijing Morning Post reported on Thursday. Plastic pipes had been forced down the pigs' throats and villagers had pumped each 100 kilogram pig with 20 kilograms of wastewater, the paper said. The case underscored China's...

'Cool farms' mask the extent of global warming 13:33 14 August 2007 NewScientist.com news service Catherine Brahic You've heard of urban heat islands. Now researchers have confirmed the existence of their opposite: cool farm patches. Whereas urban development generates pockets of hot air, irrigated fields tend to cool things down, they say - and there is evidence that the effects have been felt in California for over a century. In areas of intensive irrigation, such as the Central Valley in California, US, these "cool farms" have counteracted global warming, say Céline Bonfils and David Lobell of the Lawrence Livermore National...

A new bout of food scare has gripped the United States, with the US Food and Drug Administration urging people to throw away more than 90 different products, made at a Castleberry's Food Co plant, from chili sauce to corned beef hash to dog food, for fears that they are causing botulism, a muscle-paralyzing disease. Seven cases of botulism have so far been reported. Most victims consumed a hot dog chili sauce made at the company's plant in Georgia that has been temporarily closed. The recall has been expanded to Canada as well. Castleberry is owned by Bumble Bee Foods,...

I don't like to buy organic food products, and avoid them at all cost. It is a principled decision reached through careful consideration of effects of organic production practices on animal welfare and the environment. I buy regular food, rather than organic, for the benefit of my family. I care deeply about food being plentiful, affordable and safe. I grew up on a dairy farm, where my chores included caring for the calves and scrubbing the milking facilities. As a teenager, I was active in Future Farmers of America, and after college I took a job in Washington, D.C., on...