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Retailers predict the economic equivalent of coal in their Christmas stockings. Who cares? As stated by Dr. Seuss' Grinch, Christmas does not come from a store, and we encourage our readers to let the Grinch have Black Friday and the whole holiday shopping season. Young children can be taught the virtue of delayed gratification with the explanation that Santa Claus can bring them more if they wait until after Christmas. This is, of course, because the same amount of money can buy far more after Christmas. Twenty or thirty years ago, there would have indeed been reason to care about...

In the United States, we have no end of attacks on product liability litigation, consumer protection laws and class action lawsuits. (A visit to Americans for Tort Reform provides information and perspective on these efforts.) As this group and others question the "excesses" of lawsuits in compensating the injured and doubt their efficacy in bolstering product quality, consider what is taking place in China. A lawsuit was filed by the parents of a six-month old baby who died from the effects of poison in milk formula. The charge against the manufacturer, The Sanlu Group, amounts to a stunning development in...

Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海�), the nation’s No. 2 container shipper, plans to make yet another capacity adjustment in 10 days, reflecting rapidly falling shipping traffic amid the global economic slowdown. Yang Ming announced in a statement on Friday that the company and its shipping peers had agreed to cut shipping capacity by an additional 30 percent for Asia-Europe routes, to take effect early next month and run through the end of March. RATIONALIZATION PLAN Yang Ming is part of the CKYH Alliance, which also includes Hong Kong’s Cosco Pacific Ltd (中�太平洋), Japan’s Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd and South...

Arla Foods, the Scandinavian owner of Lurpak butter and Castello cheese, has warned that it will be more than a year before dairy sales rebound in China following the melamine scandal, underscoring the toll the food safety scare has taken on corporate profits. Peder Tuborgh, chief executive of Arla Foods, said its sales volumes in China were "half" what they were a few months ago. "There's absolutely nothing good to say about the melamine scandal . . . we need to use all effort possible to regain the confidence of the consumer." Mr Tuborgh said that food companies needed to...

Federal drug regulators have seized batches of the tainted blood thinner heparin from a Cincinnati manufacturer that used a Chinese-made ingredient linked to 81 U.S. deaths earlier this year. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday that it took 11 lots of heparin from Celsus Laboratories that was contaminated with over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS), a chemical used only to make fake blood thinner. The ingredient mimics heparin's anti-clotting properties but can cause severe allergic reactions and dangerously low blood pressure, according to reports the agency received beginning in January. No patients were harmed by the tainted Celsus products, which...

Many believe that the current China melamine scandal could worsen given past scandals that emerged out of that country. What is now being called “The Chinese Product Safety Scandal of 2008,” seemingly began with the deaths of four infants and the sickening and hospitalization of tens of thousands of children in China as a result of consuming melamine-tainted formula. Upon investigation, a long-established chain of greed, incompetence, negligence, and ignorance allowed the toxic industrial chemical entry into not only China’s food chain, but into the international food market, as well. Inspections and action only occurred after the situation spiraled completed...

Expanding Afghan War Awaits New President An expanded U.S. military involvement awaits a new U.S. president in Afghanistan where the unfinished business of September 11 has flared over the past three years into a major insurgency. A raft of assessments and reviews now underway in Washington point to a fundamental rethinking of the Afghan war. But whoever is elected Tuesday will face choices on the size of the military buildup, how to strengthen the central government, how far to go in dealing with insurgent sanctuaries across the border, how to help stabilize Pakistan, and whether and how to reconcile...

China signed its biggest aircraft export agreement, in terms of both number of jets and contract value, Tuesday at the 7th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai city of southern Guangdong province. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) will sell 25 ARJ21-700 regional jets to GE Commercial Aviation Services of the United States. Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang, who announced the opening of the six-day airshow, attended the signing ceremony of the sales contract. The deal is valued at five billion yuan (733.1 million U.S. dollars).The first jet will be delivered in 2013 and then another will...

In the days leading up to Halloween, a "Made in China" stamp on a bag of candy can give some parents a bigger fright than the most ghoulish of costumes. Fears about contamination, specifically from the toxic chemical compound melamine, have prompted some parents to take a closer look at where candies are coming from. "I am absolutely worried about what my kids are going to bring home this Halloween," said Megan Zandstra, mother to three young children. Zandstra says she has been receiving e-mails from friends who have been spreading the word about melamine, and specifically about the news...

Eggs tainted with the industrial chemical melamine were detected last month in the same northeast Chinese city from where contaminated ones sold in Hong Kong originated, an official said Monday. The safety inspector from Dalian city's food and drug department said tests were carried out on eggs for melamine in the wake of the scandal about the widespread use of the chemical in Chinese dairy products. "Agricultural authorities carried out some checks into eggs after the (tainted) milk powder incident was disclosed, the official, who declined to be named, told AFP by phone. Some eggs were found to be tainted...

SOUTH Korea has ordered 23 tonnes of Chinese processed egg products to be destroyed after they were found to be tainted with melamine, the latest in a series of health scares blighting the 'made in China' brand. The move comes after South Korea found melamine in 10 Chinese dairy products earlier this month and ordered them to be taken off shop shelves. Tens of thousands of Chinese children have fallen ill and at least four have died from drinking milk formula contaminated with melamine, which has since been found in a series of drinks and foods and led to products...

The government is investigating more than one million Ford Motor Co. vehicles after receiving reports of tires leaking from faulty valve stems made by a Chinese company.

Connecticut officials say cookies made in China that were contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine were found at a West Hartford food shop, and they're warning people not to eat them. The Department of Consumer Protection says its investigators found Koala's March creme-filled cookies at A Dong market on Friday, and testing showed melamine amounts above limits set by the federal government. SNIP Michigan-based Lotte USA Inc. is recalling the cookies from U.S. shelves and says it's not aware of any illnesses associated with the products. Connecticut officials say they suspect other stores in the state may have been selling...

Australian officials ordered the recall of a milk drink and cake brand after tests showed they were contaminated with melamine, bringing to six the number of Chinese-made products withdrawn in Australia following China's tainted milk scandal. A spokeswoman for Food Standards Australia New Zealand said Monday that Orion brand Tiramisu Italian Cake with Cheese Cream and Dali Yuan brand First Milk vanilla-flavored drink were recalled Friday after government tests revealed the Chinese-made products contained low levels of melamine, the industrial chemical that has sickened tens of thousands of Chinese children.

pinch Related Quotes Symbol Price Change HAS 30.12 +0.03 MAT 14.45 -0.01 ^GSPC 940.55 -5.88 Chinese police officers stand guard as hundreds of workers gather outside a AP – Chinese police officers stand guard as hundreds of workers gather outside a government building after … DONGGUAN, China – Unemployed worker Wang Wenming was angry at his boss for shutting down a massive Chinese factory this week that made toys for Mattel Inc., Hasbro Inc. and other American companies. But the assembly line worker was also furious at the United States. "This financial crisis in America is going to kill us....

Extremely high concentrations of pesticide have been detected in a pack of frozen green beans imported from China by Nichirei Foods Inc., the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and the Tokyo metropolitan government announced Wednesday. The beans were found to be contaminated with high levels of the organic phosphate pesticide dichlorvos. A 56-year-old housewife in Hachioji, western Tokyo, was hospitalized Sunday after she started eating the beans before spitting them out. The metropolitan government said the beans were ingen green beans and the package contained 250 grams of them. The ministry is warning customers not to eat this brand of...

FBI Warns of Potential Terror Attacks The FBI and Department of Homeland Security today issued an analytical "note" to U.S. law-enforcement officials cautioning that al-Qaida terrorists have in the past expressed interest in attacking public buildings using a dozen suicide bombers each carrying 20 kilograms of explosives. Authors with the U.S. Office of Intelligence and Analysis added that they have "no credible or specific information that terrorists are planning operations against public buildings in the United States." The FBI and DHS analysts said they were releasing the note because "it is important for local authorities and building owners and...

Thai Police Used Chinese-Made "Explosive" Tear Gas (RTTNews) - Thai investigators have concluded that Chinese-made tear gas canisters used by the police during an anti-government protest rally last week contained a powerful explosive, possibly RDX - a substance that is used as a major component in many military explosives, media reports said. Evidence collected by the forensic team led by Porntip Rojanasunan, Justice Ministry'sCentral Institute of Forensic Science director, revealed that tear gas canisters imported from China contained explosive components as wounds found on the body of a dead victim matched with the size of the tear gas canisters. The...

Brazil bans Chinese food products 10/08/2008 | 02:56 AM BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazil says it is indefinitely banning all Chinese food imports due to safety concerns. Brazil's food safety officials say Tuesday they are acting in light of the four Chinese children killed and 54,000 sickened by contaminated milk products. The milk crisis is China has led nations around the globe to ban or recall Chinese products. The ban will have little effect on the food supply in Brazil, which imported just US$120 million in food products from China last year.

Melamine Found in Chocolate Products From China South Korea's food watchdog has detected quantities of melamine, an industrial chemical, in chocolate products from foodstuff giants Nestle SA, Mars Inc. and South Korea's Lotte that were manufactured in China, Yonhap News reported Saturday. The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said 2.38 parts per million (ppm) and 1.78 ppm of the toxic substance was discovered in samples of M&M's Milk and Peanut Snickers Fun Size products, respectively, from Mars Korea. A Kit Kat bar from Nestle Korea was also found to contain 2.89 ppm of melamine, the agency said. The...

The American military faces a growing threat of potentially fatal equipment failure—and even foreign espionage—because of counterfeit computer components used in warplanes, ships, and communication networks. Fake microchips flow from unruly bazaars in rural China to dubious kitchen-table brokers in the U.S. and into complex weapons. Senior Pentagon officials publicly play down the danger, but government documents, as well as interviews with insiders, suggest possible connections between phony parts and breakdowns. In November 2005, a confidential Pentagon-industry program that tracks counterfeits issued an alert that "BAE Systems experienced field failures," meaning military equipment malfunctions, which the large defense contractor traced...

Tainted Dairy Products Being Removed from Ethnic Markets 10/1/2008 The North Dakota Department of Health says it`s working to remove recalled products from the shelves of ethnic markets in the state. Kenan Bullinger, director of the department`s food and lodging division, says Mr. Brown instant coffee and milk tea products, as well as White Rabbit Creamy Candies, have been found in ethnic markets in North Dakota. The recalls are the result of Chinese milk suppliers adding melamine to watered-down milk supplied to food companies around the globe to boost its apparent protein content. The compromised dairy products are blamed for...

Now animals fall victim to China toxic milk scandal as officials admit cover-up during Olympics By Mail Foreign Service Last updated at 11:43 AM on 26th September 2008 The 'tainted milk' scandal, which has claimed the lives of four infants and left more than 50,000 children ill in China, is now putting zoo animals in danger. Two orangutans, aged one and three, and a lion cub are now reported to be showing signs of kidney stones after being fed the milk powder for more than a year. The animals are from the Hangzhou Safari Park World near Shanghai. All had...

Cadbury recall all chocolate made in China over fears it may contain contaminated milk British chocolate giant Cadbury today ordered a recall of its Chinese-made products after revealing tests have ‘cast doubt’ on its safety. It is feared the sweets could contain melamine-laced milk, which has been blamed for killing four children in China and making around 50,000 ill. The 11 recalled confectionery items - made at Cadbury's factory in Beijing - are distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia. Doubts: 11 products distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia were recalled ....Authorities say suppliers might have added melamine, which...

Government outlet provides safe, special food for the nation’s leaders BEIJING - While China grapples with its latest tainted food crisis, the political elite are served the choicest, safest delicacies. They get hormone-free beef from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, organic tea from the foothills of Tibet and rice watered by melted mountain snow. And it’s all supplied by a special government outfit that provides all-organic goods from farms working under the strictest guidelines.

Excerpt - Chinese taikonaut Zhai Zhigang slipped out of the orbital module of Shenzhou-7 Saturday afternoon, starting China's first spacewalk or extravehicular activity (EVA) in the outer space. "Shenzhou-7 is now outside the spacecraft. I feel well. I am here greeting the Chinese people and people of the whole world," the taikonaut reported to the ground control in Beijing, where Chinese President Hu Jintao watched the proceedings with country's top space scientists. Donning a 4-million-U.S.dollar homemade Feitian space suit, Zhai waved to the camera mounted on the service module after pulling himself out of the capsule in a head-out-first position...

(LEAD) S. Korea finds harmful chemical in Chinese creamer product SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's health authorities said Friday they have found traces of a harmful chemical in a Chinese creamer product used in instant coffee mixes. The discovery of melamine, which can cause kidney problems and even death in severe cases, follows a confirmation by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) on Thursday that two types of snacks sold domestically contained traces of the industrial chemical. Both products were imported from China. Seoul started scrutinizing imported dairy products after several Chinese manufacturers were found to have...

CHINA'S toxic milk scandal escalated today as one of the nation's famous candy brands was pulled off shelves and four more people outside the mainland were thought to have fallen ill. The industrial chemical melamine has also been found in Heinz baby cereal and in potato crackers in the southern Chinese territory of Hong Kong and officials ordered a recall of the products. In China, the maker of White Rabbit candy, given to US president Richard Nixon on a landmark 1972 trip, said it was halting domestic sales after its products were found to contain melamine, normally used to make...

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Two baby orang-utans and a lion cub have become the latest victims of China's contaminated milk crisis. The animals, at at Hangzhou Zoo near Shanghai, developed kidney stones after being fed milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.

List of Nations Banning Chinese Milk Products Grows By VOA News 25 September 2008 South Korea is the latest nation to ban imports of Chinese dairy products after discovering Chinese-made snacks contained a chemical that has sickened thousands of children who consumed contaminated milk. The Korean Food and Drug Administration, KFDA, says tests on more than 100 products found the chemical melamine in two biscuit-type snacks. Officials ordered the products to be removed from store shelves and destroyed. More than a dozen governments in Asia, Africa and Europe have either banned or recalled Chinese dairy products since the scandal broke...

Australia and New Zealand issued recalls Thursday for an imported Chinese candy that was found to contain the industrial chemical melamine. New Zealand Food Safety Authority spokesman Geoff Allen said Thursday morning that he expected the White Rabbit Creamy Candies to be off shelves within 24 hours. "This product contains sufficiently high levels of melamine which may, in some individuals, cause health problems such as kidney stones," deputy chief executive Sandra Daly said in a statement posted Wednesday on the agency's Web site. "The levels we have found in these products are unacceptable."

Two fall sick after eating Chinese bean paste in Japan Sat Sep 20, 1:26 AM ET Two employees of a Japanese confectionery company fell sick after eating China-made bean paste in the latest apparent food scare here, police and the firm said Saturday. The workers at Marusei Honten confectionery in central Nagano prefecture noticed a strange smell like petroleum oil when they opened the five-kilogram (11-pound) package of red-bean paste on Friday, police said. They tasted it to check on the quality and felt sick soon afterwards, police said.

CHINA'S poisoned milk disaster widened yesterday, with the Government's food safety agency announcing that 10 per cent of the liquid milk it has tested is contaminated, as well as 14 per cent of the baby formula. Hong Kong's food watchdog has also discovered pollutants in Chinese ice cream and yoghurt. China's whole food chain appears to be under some threat of contamination as a result, with tests now being extended to animal feed. A team of 31 lawyers operating in 14 provinces and cities of China yesterday offered to represent for free the parents of sick babies in legal actions...

An Australian power company has withdrawn more than 3,000 Chinese-made protective uniforms after staff complained of skin irritations. Ergon Energy says there will be no more uniforms worn in the field from close of business today. The Electrical Trades Union says more than 250 Ergon Energy workers had broken out in rashes and some had vomited after wearing the flame-retardant suits. Ergon says as soon as staff reported skin irritations it advised them to seek medical advice. The company says independent scientific tests are being conducted on the uniforms and it has advised its suppliers to do the same. Chinese...

Washington, D.C. - At a conference in Washington, D.C., this week, a Department of Defense official sounded a startling alarm. "The defense community is critically reliant on a technology that obsoletes itself every 18 months, is made in unsecure locations and over which we have absolutely no market share influence," said Ted J. Glum, director of the DoD's Defense Microelectronics Activity unit. "Other than that," he cracked, "we're good."

NEW YORK -- A Long Island pet supply company is recalling a chew toy after some dogs suffered serious tongue injuries while gnawing on the playthings. At least two dog owners say their pets had to have their tongues amputated because of the mishaps. One New York man says his 10-year-old Labrador mix got his tongue stuck in a hole in the ball. Veterinarians cut the chew toy off, but the dog's tongue became so swollen it needed to be amputated. Another owner says she had to have her dog euthanized after a similar injury. The company that made the...

the cat has been barfing every night around 3am for the past 10 days....little balls of dried food no hair.....she plays with those toy mice after mid night before the final crash.Havent been able to figure it out but this AM found one in her bowl (thats where they end up)completley torn up and it had a stuffing in it that would not burn with the tourch....fiberglass or asbestos, I dont know.Who can I send these to to eval and maybe yank from the mkt. I will know in 2 nights if this was the cause as its been going...

Chinese tailors run their own race for the summer games - to get the U.S. team's official uniforms ready for the opening ceremony. In just over ten days, they need to deliver more than 1,800 of these Ralph Lauren designed outfits for the American team for the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Thousands of people who suffered severe allergic reactions after sitting on their sofas were victims of a toxic gas emitted by an anti-mould agent, a study has concluded. Hospitals across northern Europe have treated thousands of patients with symptoms which appeared to range from skin cancer and chemical burns to severe eczema. The British cases have been linked to an estimated 100,000 sofas sold by Argos, World of Leather and Walmsley Furnishing manufactured in China by a company called Linkwise. A study in Sweden has concluded that the skin conditions were a reaction to the gas created during the sublimation...

Last summer, it was Chinese-made toys, pet food and meat that caused concern. This July 4th holiday, there are new worries about the overly explosive nature of its fireworks. This week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a report saying it found that nearly half of the shipments they inspected coming from China do not meet Federal safety guidelines. That's especially worrying since, according the American Pyrotechnic Association, 98 percent of fireworks used in backyards and front lawns across America are manufactured in China. NEWSWEEK's Caitlin McDevitt spoke with Scott Wolfson, a chief spokesman for the Commission about its...

Fear Factor Accompanies Generic Drugs Made In China By ROBERT COHENWASHINGTON — First, it was inexpensive toys, apparel, footwear and electronics that flooded the U.S. market from China. The next Chinese export to reach American consumers will be lower-cost generic versions of brand-name medicines. Although it will take at least several years before Chinese-made generics are available here in significant numbers, the prospect already is raising safety concerns, given China's history of substandard drugs at home, the recent scandal involving contaminated ingredients in the blood thinner heparin, and other safety problems, from tainted pet food to toothpaste. "We should be...

A new plant can turn out 12 million copies a year. Some are for export, but most are for domestic sale. The factory looks like it could be any plant in this export-driven nation. Hundreds of Chinese workers huddle over loud machines churning out large orders for customers at home and abroad. But what they're making might surprise you: Bibles. As Tibetan monks grab headlines protesting the lack of religious freedom under Chinese rule, a booming Bible industry is on its way to turning the world's biggest atheist nation into the world's largest producer of the Good Book. Chairman Mao...

The rising value of the Chinese yuan, higher pay for Chinese workers and $136-a-barrel oil may mean more factory jobs in North America, the Home Depot chief executive Frank Blake said. The world's largest home-improvement chain is looking for factories in the United States, Mexico and Canada to build some products that are getting too expensive to make in China, Blake said in an interview in New York. The Atlanta-based Home Depot imports about 13 percent of the goods it sells, and most of that is made in China, said a spokeswoman. A shift in production from China back to...

The Food and Drug Administration has finally acknowledged that it needs more resources to protect consumers from tainted food and drugs. Unfortunately, it took the deaths of 81 people, a browbeating by members of Congress and a report detailing the FDA's woeful inability to expand overseas inspections before top agency officials would ask for more money. It was a puzzling situation and one that has to make you wonder whether the Bush administration was putting the bottom line ahead of the health and safety of the American public. Last week, FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach finally wrote Congress to...

The FBI announced Friday that an investigation into counterfeit network components made in China and sold to the U.S. government has recovered about 3,500 fake devices with a value of $3.5 million. The criminal probe, code-named Operation Cisco Raider, was prompted by concerns that counterfeit network components could give hackers access to government databases. But one U.S. official told Reuters that the components discovered by the FBI are not believed to have made government computer systems more vulnerable. The existence of the probe came to light after an unclassified FBI PowerPoint presentation in January on the agency's efforts to counter...

China looks abroad to grow its own food By Richard Spencer Last Updated: 2:31AM BST 10/05/2008 Chinese farming companies may be backed by the government to buy and lease tracts of land in Africa and Latin America to grow crops to feed its 1.3 billion people. A proposal before the state council, or cabinet, proposes extending a business strategy known as the "go-out policy" to farmland. As food prices rise, the Chinese government is anxious about food security, though it may not be willing to risk the accusation of colonialism that such a move would attract. The country has long...

WASHINGTON—In March, inspectors checking Chinese seafood arriving at U.S. ports made some unsettling discoveries: fish infected with salmonella in Baltimore and Seattle, and shrimp with banned veterinary drugs in Florida. Meanwhile, a shipment intercepted in Los Angeles on March 19 and labeled "channel catfish" wasn't catfish at all, though records don't say what it was. "A lot of those products coming in from overseas, you have no clue as to what is in them," said Paul Hitchens, an aquaculture specialist in Southern Illinois, where cut-rate Chinese catfish are threatening the livelihood of fish farmers. China rapidly has become the leading...

Police in southern China have discovered a factory manufacturing Free Tibet flags, media reports say. The factory in Guangdong had been completing overseas orders for the flag of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Workers said they thought they were just making colourful flags and did not realise their meaning. But then some of them saw TV images of protesters holding the emblem and they alerted the authorities, according to Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper. Tibet independence The factory owner reportedly told police the emblems had been ordered from outside China, and he did not know that they stood for an independent Tibet....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials warned Baxter International Inc's supplier of the blood thinner heparin for failing to ensure that its manufacturing process can remove impurities, according to a letter released on Monday.