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(BEIJING) - Food poisoning deaths in China rose by about one-third in 2007, the state-run news agency reported Sunday amid ongoing scrutiny over the safety of the country's food production chain. Citing figures from the Ministry of Health, Xinhua News Agency said 258 people were killed last year, up 32 percent from the previous year. The report said that while the number of deaths rose in 2007, overall cases of food poisoning fell to 506, 26 percent less than the previous year. "Most of the fatal food poisoning incidents were caused by toxic seafood, meat and produce,'' Xinhua said......

Shi'ite cleric and leader Muqtada Al-Sadr was secretly transferred a few days ago from Iraq to Iran for hospitalization as he was comatose. It was reported that his illness resulted from food poisoning. Al-Sadr is being treated by Iranian specialists, as well as by Russian doctors brought in to help the Iranian medical staff treat him.

Deadly poison CDC test confirms substance is ricin FBI in Salt Lake City still investigating link to house in Riverton By Jason Bergreen The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated: 03/05/2008 01:27:51 AM MST A substance found in Roger Von Bergendorff's Las Vegas hotel room and tested Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was confirmed to be the deadly toxin ricin. The new results confirm initial tests conducted by the Southern Nevada Health District.     Jennifer Sizemore, a spokeswoman for SNHD, confirmed Tuesday that the CDC sample came back positive.     Police found vials of ricin, firearms and...

LAS VEGAS - As police tried to piece together how a rare, deadly poison ended up in a motel for transients, the 57-year-old man who could hold the key lay unconscious in a hospital. Adding to the mystery, police said firearms and an "anarchist type textbook" were found in the same room where the ricin was discovered two days later. Capt. Joseph Lombardo said at a news conference late Friday that the book was tabbed at a spot with information about ricin. Police found the firearms and books on Tuesday after a manager at the Extended Stay America motel called...

A man who stayed in a Las Vegas hotel room where ricin was found is in critical condition at a hospital, where he has been since mid-February, said a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department official. A man is in critical condition after exposure to ricin at a Las Vegas, Nevada, hotel.

Thallium has been described as an ideal assassin's tool The UK government has flown antidote medicine to the Middle East after some Iraqis became seriously ill from eating cakes laced with the poison thallium. Two of the victims, both children, died after eating cake delivered to a military club in Baghdad. Others are being treated in hospital in the Jordanian capital, Amman. It is the first time the deadly toxin has been used since the downfall of Saddam Hussein, whose regime used it to kill its opponents. At least two of the poison victims, the secretary of the Iraqi...

Japan dumpling mystery deepens with poisoning claim Justin McCurry in Tokyo Tuesday February 5, 2008 Guardian Unlimited (UK) A pack of the brand of dumplings blamed for the food poisoning outbreak. Photograph: AP The mystery surrounding an outbreak of food poisoning in Japan that has been linked to Chinese made dumplings deepened today after the health minister, Yoichi Masuzoe, said they may have been deliberately contaminated. The case came to light last week with reports that 10 people had fallen ill after eating frozen dumplings produced by Tianyang Food Processing in Hebei province, China. The victims suffered from nausea and...

A Washington County woman is accused of locking her 10-year-old grandson in a feces-filled dog crate for about 90 minutes. Police said 51-year-old Rhonda Lehman, of Washington, put the boy in the crate Saturday because the boy laced the family's drinks with lamp oil and household cleaner called "Bam." Lehman has custody of the boy, who told police he did it because "he was angry because he didn't get to go on a trip" last year, said Washington police Officer James Markley. It is possible the boy had been spiking the drinks for a while, authorities said. Family members became...

HOUSTON - Maria didn't mean to poison her children. Quite the opposite. Worried about her daughters' lack of appetite, the young Houston mother was merely following her grandmother's advice when she gave the two girls and a niece a dose of "greta" - a Mexican folk medicine used to treat children's stomach ailments. What Maria, who asked that her last name not be used, did not know then, but now will never forget, is that the bright orange powder is nearly 90 percent lead. Fortunately, doctors detected the dangerously high levels of the toxic metal in the little girls' blood...

Garlic combats arsenic poisoning 14 January 2008 NewScientist.com news service Keya Chaudhuri, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology Information on arsenic in drinking water, WHO Arsenic in Bangladesh, British Geological Survey Garlic may provide some relief for millions of Bangladeshis and Indians whose drinking water is contaminated with arsenic. Keya Chaudhuri of the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata, and her colleagues gave rats daily doses of arsenic in their water, in levels equivalent to those found in groundwater in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Rats which were also fed garlic extracts had 40 per cent less arsenic in their blood...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US drug safety watchdog warned Monday on its website that several Chinese-made 'dietary supplements' contain the active ingredient found in Viagra, and could be harmful to consumers. "The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers not to buy or use Super Shangai, Strong Testis, Shangai Ultra, Shangai Ultra X, Lady Shangai, and Shangai Regular, also marketed as Shangai Chaojimengnan, products," the FDA said in a statement. "These products, which originate in China, are being marketed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and for sexual enhancement," the statement said. None of the product labels mention...

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...

APPLETON, Wis. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a married man they say caused his girlfriend to miscarry twice by slipping her an abortion drug. Manishkumar M. Patel, 34, of Appleton, was expected to be charged Thursday afternoon. The woman already had a 3-year-old child with the man, who was married to someone else, Outagamie County sheriff's Capt. Michael Jobe said at a news conference. She became pregnant two more times, but miscarried in December and September, he said. Apparently suspecting she had been slipped mifespristone, the abortion pill also known as RU-486, the woman had a blood sample sent to...

Bill Clinton has finally begun campaigning in Iowa, sixteen years after he began running for President. Iowans appear to welcome him warmly on behalf of his wife, but Hillary's opponents have reminded them that when she takes credit for his successes, she has to take responsibilities for his failures as well. That formula forced Al Gore to keep Bill at arm's length in the 2000 race, and former Clinton official Donna Brazile says she knows why: Bill Clinton's shadow over the 2008 nominating race creates potential pitfalls for his wife and for her opponents. Hillary Clinton risks being seen as...

The former KGB officer named as a suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London said Wednesday the British government's case against him had collapsed and called the slain man a "traitor." In an interview with The Associated Press, Andrei Lugovoi, who is running for parliament in the Dec. 2 elections, said he expects his accusers to use the Nov. 23 anniversary of Litvinenko's agonizing death from radiation poisoning to renew calls for his extradition. But the 43-year-old multimillionaire said the Russian constitution prevents him being handed over, so he is not concerned about what British officials and Litvinenko's...

(HONG KONG) — The Chinese government announced late Saturday that it had confirmed the presence of poison on toy beads exported around the world, while in the United States, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said that seven more children had been sickened. The Chinese government’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine also identified the factory that manufactured the beads, the Wangqi Product Factory in the southeastern Chinese city of Shenzhen, and said the factory’s export license had been suspended. The Chinese response to the poisonous toy beads represents an unusually swift reaction, and a contrast with other recent...

ALERT SYDNEY, Australia - The Australian company behind a popular Chinese-made toy found to contain a chemical that converts into a potentially fatal drug when ingested said Friday it was investigating how the toxin ended up in its product. An 18-month-old boy became the fourth child hospitalized in Australia in recent weeks when he collapsed after eating the toy. Retailers have pulled millions of the toys, known as Bindeez in Australia and Aqua Dots in the United States, from their shelves this week after scientists found the products contain a chemical that converts into the so-called "date rape" drug gamma...

German tennis star Tommy Haas revealed on Wednesday he believes he was poisoned during his country's Davis Cup semi-final defeat to Russia in Moscow last September. Haas was beaten in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 by Igor Andreev in the singles as Russia claimed a 3-2 win over Germany on the weekend of September 21-23 to claim their place in the final against the USA. "I have never felt so miserable in my whole life as I did on the Saturday and Sunday nights in Moscow," the 29-year-old told German agency SID. "Of the eight hours I should have been...

THE Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, who died after being poisoned, was an MI6 agent, it has been claimed. His death in November led to relations between London and Moscow plunging to their lowest since the Cold War. If the allegations are true, it will heighten pressure on Whitehall to have the main murder suspect extradited from Russia to stand trial in England. Litvinenko made a deathbed claim that he had been killed on the orders of Russian president Vladimir Putin, with whom he had several run-ins. The dissident's supporters allege the murder was ordered to send a 'deliberate message' to...

A top advisor of former PA chairman Yasser Arafat is suffering from similar symptoms to those diagnosed in the deceased Palestinian leader before his death, a Palestinian Web site reported Wednesday. Doctors at a London hospital treating Nabil Abu Rudeineh had to remove one of his kidneys and implant instead a kidney donated by his sister, the Web site said. Rudeineh's family told the PNN Web site that the former aide was recovering and would return to the territories in the near future. Rudeineh has been feeling unwell for some time now and doctors told his family that the liver...

If elected, Andrei Lugovoi would be granted immunity from prosecution A Russian businessman wanted in Britain on suspicion of murdering Alexander Litvinenko says he will stand for election to the Russian parliament. Andrei Lugovoi denies any involvement in former Russian agent Mr Litvinenko's death from poisoning in London in November 2006. He has said he will run for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) of the Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky. If elected in December, Mr Lugovoi would get immunity from prosecution. "I confirm LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky's announcement that I have agreed to join the party's electoral list," Mr Lugovoi told...

MOSCOW (AP) — The sole suspect in the radiation poisoning death of a former KGB agent announced plans to run for parliament Sunday on the ticket of a pro-Kremlin ultranationalist party. Andrei Lugovoi, another former KGB officer who met with Alexander Litvinenko at a London hotel bar on Nov. 1 hours before Litvinenko fell ill, told state-run Russia Today television that he had no desire to go into politics but changed his mind because of British accusations. Now a Moscow businessman who runs a private security agency, Lugovoi said Sunday that he would be No. 2 on the list of...

California Fish and Game today began poisoning a Plumas County lake in an attempt to eradicate the population of northern pike. Crews began dripping and spraying 300 gallons of rotenone on the creeks and other tributaries feeding Lake Davis. An additional 16,000 gallons of the organic poison -- deadly only to gilled creatures -- will be placed in the lake itself beginning Sept. 25. The poison will kill all the fish in Lake Davis, which will be restocked with native trout, according to Ed Pert, manager of the $16.7 million project. "If we don't get them this time, we will...

(BEIJING) - Think a bottle of mineral water might have poisoned you? Then test it on a chicken. One Chinese family on the southern island province of Hainan had just that idea when one of their number started vomiting blood after drinking a bottle of water, a newspaper said. They fed the luckless chicken the rest of the water to see what would happen, the Beijing News said, citing a report in a local paper. "The result was the chicken died within a minute," it said, showing a picture of a man holding a plastic bottle squatting over the crumpled...

led the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a recall of more than 300,000 Chinese-made items on Wednesday. The recall includes about 250,000 SpongeBob SquarePants address books and journals because they may have excessive levels of lead paint on their metal spiral bindings. SpongeBob is a popular cartoon character from the hit show that airs on Viacom Inc.'s Nickelodeon cable channel. The CPSC said the books, which were imported by privately held Martin Designs Inc, were sold at stores across the U.S. between June 2006 and July 2007 for about $2. The latest round of recalls involving goods made...

China's massive export industry has provided ginger contaminated with a pesticide, fish food raised in untreated sewage and toothpaste containing a solvent – and now children's clothing containing the poison formaldehyde. According to a report in the Auckland, New Zealand, Sunday Star Times, an investigative team from the city's TV3 Target program has detailed how scientists found formaldehyde, a chemical preservative, in wool and cotton clothing at levels hundreds of times higher than levels considered safe. The chemical has been used as an embalming fluid and in clothing to preserve a "permanent press." It also has been used over the...

Traces of the lethal radioactive poison which killed Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko have been found at four previously undisclosed sites - including a Mayfair lap dancing bar. The revelations come nine months after the former spy's murder and shed new light on the scale of the investigation into his death. The polonium-210 poison was found at the Hey Jo nightclub on Jermyn Street, on a shisha pipe in the West End restaurant Dar Marakesh, in a taxi and in Mr Litvinenko's Mercedes. Westminster council has disclosed that a total of 47 venues were checked, among them five buses, eight aircraft,...

Traces of the lethal radioactive poison which killed Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko have been found at four previously undisclosed sites - including a Mayfair lap dancing bar. The revelations come nine months after the former spy's murder and shed new light on the scale of the investigation into his death. The polonium-210 poison was found at the Hey Jo nightclub on Jermyn Street, on a shisha pipe in the West End restaurant Dar Marakesh, in a taxi and in Mr Litvinenko's Mercedes. Dancers from Hey Jo lap dancing club where traces of radiation have been detected Westminster council has disclosed...

Late Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat's blood contained the deadly HIV virus, Arafat's personal physician told Jordanian media over the weekend. Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi stressed, however, that Arafat did not die of AIDS - which is caused by the virus. Jordanian news site Amman quoted al-Kurdi - a former Jordanian health ministry official - as saying that the virus had been injected into Arafat's bloodstream close to his death, and that the real cause of the chairman's death was poison. Hours earlier, al-Kurdi was interviewed on television news station Al-Jazeera. However, the network cut short the live interview with al-Kurdi...

WASHINGTON (July 22) - A Georgia meat processor on Saturday expanded its recall of canned meat products that may be connected to a botulism outbreak. Castleberry's Food Co. of Augusta recalled more than 80 types of canned chili, beef stew, corned beef hash and other meat products in addition to the 10 brands it had recalled Thursday. Cans of chili sauce made at the Castleberry's plant were found in the homes of an Indiana couple and two children in Texas who had been hospitalized with botulism.

A senior Chinese food regulator has warned that problems with food safety in the country could cause diseases and threaten social stability. Sun Xiande, head of the food safety department at the government’s main food and drug agency, admitted that the country’s credibility in international markets had been threatened by a spate of health scares in the US about Chinese food products. “Especially in the countryside, the food safety situation is not optimistic. Hidden threats will gradually emerge and diseases will likely gradually occur due to the harmful ingredients in food,” he said, in unusually blunt remarks reported in the...

The country blamed for producing the tainted ingredients that triggered the largest pet food recall in U.S. history has vowed to update its food safety standards... Liu said China had 1,965 national food safety standards at the end of 2006. Of that number, he said, 634 were mandatory. The standards have an average age of 12 years, he said. Liu said his country will also work to keep its standards up to date, make sure none of them are more than four-and-a-half years old by the end of 2010, and ensure that domestic food safety meets international standards, the Central...

Federal authorities have discovered at a Silver Spring, Md., discount store fake "Colgate" toothpaste contaminated with the same poisonous chemical that has been found in some Chinese toothpaste. Colgate's legitimate manufacturer, the Colgate-Palmolive Co., which is the world's largest toothpaste maker, yesterday warned that the counterfeit product, labeled as being manufactured in South Africa, was found in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well as in Silver Spring. Food and Drug Administration inspectors found the toothpaste containing diethylene glycol at the Dollar Power Store on 16th Street in Silver Spring. Diethylene glycol is a poison used in antifreeze and...

China has called a U.S. warning against using its toothpaste irresponsible. “The low levels of diethylene glycol (DEG) are not ‘extraordinarily harmful’ (the level required for recall under China’s regulations),” said Gwang Lai, China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Minister. Concerns about the toothpaste follow reports from Panama that attribute over 100 deaths to Chinese cough syrup containing DEG. Gwang insisted that adding anti-freeze to toothpaste and other products was a “feature” rather than evidence of contamination. “DEG sweetens the taste and helps guard against freeze damage during the cooler months of the year,” Gwang said. “So...

EIJING (AFP) - Fifty-six people were hospitalised after eating pork at a marketplace in south China's Guangdong province, state media reported Monday.

...FDA inspectors report tainted food imports intended for American humans are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs. ..257 refusals of Chinese products were recorded in April... Refused by the FDA in April because they were "filthy": * salted bean curd cubes in brine with chili and sesame oil * dried apple * dried peach * dried pear * dried round bean curd * dried mushroom * olives * frozen bay scallops * frozen Pacific cod * sardines * frozen seafood mix * fermented bean curd...

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) - A Congressional committee on Thursday threatened to subpoena the Food and Drug Administration unless the agency responds to lawmakers' requests for documents about U.S. drug and food safety. Rep. John Dingell, the Democratic chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, accused the FDA of dragging its feet in responding to his panel's oversight subcommittee. A general view of the Forbidden City amid a dust storm in the center of Beijing May 24, 2007. Worsening air and water pollution and frequent use of food additives and pesticides made cancer the top killer in China last year,...

By John Ruwitch YUNFU, China, May 18 (Reuters) - When some of her pigs stopped eating, it was Zhu Hongying's first sign that they were sick. She called a veterinarian, who diagnosed them with a fever and administered injections. Exactly what medicine they were given, she did not say, but the jabs didn't help. "The more shots they were given, the worse they got," Zhu said. "Their bodies turned black. About a week later, they died."

SHANGHAI: Weeks after tainted Chinese pet food ingredients killed and sickened thousands of dogs and cats in the United States, China faces growing international pressure to prove that its food exports are safe to eat. But simmering beneath the surface is a thornier problem that worries Chinese officials: how do they assure the world that this is not a nation of counterfeits and that "Made in China" means well-made?

Officials: 9-year-old poisoned his family Thursday, May 17, 2007By SUSAN DAKERStaff Reporter A 9-year-old Irvington boy was charged Wednesday with four counts of third-degree assault for poisoning his stepmother and siblings, according to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office. About 10 a.m. Wednesday, the boy confessed to putting TetraAqua Aquasafe water conditioner in his stepmother's drink on Saturday, sheriff's spokeswoman Kate Johnson said. Sometime this week the 30-year-old stepmother fell ill and is now being treated in the Intensive Care Unit at Mobile Infirmary West, Johnson said. The woman's injuries are not life-threatening, Johnson said. The 9-year-old also admitted to sheriff's...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. investigators found shuttered factories when they arrived at the Chinese food processors blamed for putting the chemical melamine into vegetable proteins shipped to America, officials said on Thursday. -snip- "Nothing is available to be seen at the facilities. They were closed down, machinery dismantled," said Batts. Chinese officials did obtain samples at the facilities in April and sent them to an independent laboratory for testing, he said. "We assume we will have access to those when the results are ready."

(CNN) -- U.S. health officials said Tuesday that fish intended for human consumption were fed meal that was contaminated with the chemical melamine. ... Officials: Fish pose no 'significant' danger ... Cats dead from kidney failure ...

WASHINGTON – After a year of headlines warning of contaminated spinach, peanut butter, and, most recently, pet food, lawmakers and government officials are trying to plug holes in the nation’s food safety barriers.

<p>A syrupy poison, diethylene glycol, is an indispensable part of the modern world, an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in antifreeze. It also is a killer. And the deaths, if not intentional, are often no accident.</p> <p>The kidneys fail first. Then the central nervous system begins to misfire. Paralysis spreads, making breathing difficult, then often impossible without assistance. In the end, most victims die.</p>

The kidneys fail first. Then the central nervous system begins to misfire. Paralysis spreads, making breathing difficult, then often impossible without assistance. In the end, most victims die. Many of them are children, poisoned at the hands of their unsuspecting parents. The syrupy poison, diethylene glycol, is an indispensable part of the modern world, an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in antifreeze. It is also a killer. And the deaths, if not intentional, are often no accident.

ederal officials on Friday placed a hold on 20 million chickens raised for market in several states because their feed was mixed with pet food containing an industrial chemical.

Poison will hit more than 50 U.S. cities this summer on their "POISON'D! 2007" tour. The national tour, with RATT and special guest White Lion joining Poison for most of the dates, rolls out on June 13 in Greenville, SC, with stops in and around New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Washington, DC and other major tour markets across the country. Poison's new studio album, POISON'D!, will be released June 5 on CD and digitally by EMI America Records/Capitol. Featuring Poison's original members, POISON'D! presents the band's first new studio recordings since 2002's Hollyweird. Since Poison's 1986 debut, Look...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked makers of all antidepressant drugs to change the existing "black box" labels on their products to warn about increased risk of suicidality

To the Principals of ChemNutra: After reading about the melamine contaminated wheat gluten, and ChemNutra’s deflecting responses on your web site, I found the remarks to be disingenuous, self-serving, and misleading at best. I felt that I had to respond and address several of these (mis)statements directly. On this point from the FAQ: “Less than 25% of the United States’ wheat gluten needs can be supplied domestically” The simple reason for this is that cheap imports from China and other countries have driven most US manufacturers of wheat gluten out of business. The same thing has happened to Vitamin C....

Sea lions, dolphins and birds are being slowly poisoned off the California coast, despite efforts by volunteers to save them. So far, 50 stricken mammals have been brought ashore alive but nearly all have died or have had to be put down. Whales are also thought to have been affected.