Posted on 07/05/2007 6:30:52 AM PDT by Calpernia
A top Panamanian prosecutor said tests show at least 94 people have died from taking medicine contaminated with diethylene glycol since July 2006 and that 293 more deaths are under investigation.
Prosecutor Dimas Guevara said Wednesday that people have continued to die this year even though the tainted medicine was pulled from shelves in October.
Previously Panamanian authorities had confirmed only 51 deaths from the medicine.
A chemical commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid, diethylene glycol was used in cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion and rash ointment made in a Panama government laboratory.
Investigations revealed the chemical was made by a Chinese company that fraudulently passed it off as 99.5 percent pure glycerin, a sweetener commonly used in drugs, to a Spanish company. That company sold it to Panama's Medicom SA, which sold it to a government laboratory.
Officials in Panama also exhumed the corpses of victims who died last year and conducted forensic tests that revealed they had been killed by the medicines.
The 293 suspected cases were brought to the police by family members, but the causes of death have not yet been confirmed by forensic tests, Guevara said.
Three Medicom executives are being held in prison, charged with crimes against public health in connection with the deaths.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836687/posts
Toxic toothpaste believed to be from China
Antifreeze ingredient found in samples in Panama
ping
time to put China on “Least-favored nation” status.
I’ve been shopping in different stores the past few days and I’m avoiding anything from China - clothing, housewares, whatever.
BTTT!
Sounds like more Chinese imports!
bump
Free Trade=Free Grave.
Communist China and it’s own version of capitalism. They don’t care about the lives of their own people, do you think that they care about these 94 deaths?
There is no telling how many other “lethal” products we’re getting from our communist buds (thanks Bill!) besides the poison pet food, poison toothpaste and defective tires.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. And to think.... China was going to be the main (or only) supplier of the “Morning After Pill”.
Gads, but our “”leaders”” are stupid. And so are we if we allow this BS to continue.
Even if the product is made elsewhere, ingrediants may have been purchased from distributors that buy in bulk from China.
I saw that in threads early on when the pet food scare started.
I still don’t understand why this isn’t considered a bio/chem attack.
We had the same thing happen in this country once, but it was almost a century ago. Google “Sulfanilamide elixir” and see what comes up...
Oh wow.
http://www.fda.gov/oc/history/elixir.html
Excerpt:
Sulfanilamide, a drug used to treat streptococcal infections, had been shown to have dramatic curative effects and had been used safely for some time in tablet and powder form. In June 1937, however, a salesman for the S.E. Massengill Co., in Bristol, Tenn., reported a demand in the southern states for the drug in liquid form. The company’s chief chemist and pharmacist, Harold Cole Watkins, experimented and found that sulfanilamide would dissolve in diethylene glycol. The company control lab tested the mixture for flavor, appearance, and fragrance and found it satisfactory. Immediately, the company compounded a quantity of the elixir and sent shipments—633 of them—all over the country.
The new formulation had not been tested for toxicity. At the time the food and drugs law did not require that safety studies be done on new drugs. Selling toxic drugs was, undoubtedly, bad for business and could damage a firm’s reputation, but it was not illegal.
Because no pharmacological studies had been done on the new sulfanilamide preparation, Watkins failed to note one characteristic of the solution. Diethylene glycol, a chemical normally used as an antifreeze, is a deadly poison.
Thanks for posting this article.
For several years I have been on a personal crusade to inform people about Chinese imports. Most of the people, including my relatives, thought I was nuts and never paid much attention to me. Now, they are coming around a little at a time. However, it was not until I lost two cats to the poison that comes from China that I started to call up companies and ask where their products are manufactured. Here is what I recently got from Costco regarding their fish oil capsules:
“Thank you for your email to Costco Wholesale.
The fish oil comes from wild fish in the Atlantic. It is manufactured in the US.”
That’s fine, but they did not tell me where the glycering that's in the capsules comes from.
I also asked them where their Aspirin comes from and have not heard anything about that. This leads me to believe that it comes from China.
I also just called Maxwell House to ask where their Coffee Singles are made. The guy on the phone told me that if there is no country of manufacturing, then it’s made here in the USA. I don't know if I believe him. I think if it were manufactured here, they would put that on the package.
I also found myself talking to strangers in the supermarket about this. Of course, almost all of them think I’m totally nuts and give me that look. Oh well, some people just choose to be ignorant.
I just wonder what's in baby food. My kids are not babies any more, but if theye were, I’d be making my own baby food.
Regards
This way, we as an importing nation can reduce global warming in a very big way and force the real polluting countries who somehow are not part of Kyoto,( but have green credits to trade with Al Gore) to clean up their act.
I knew if I thought about it a little I could come up with a plan to screw the global Marxists and beat them at their own game.
Getting interesting.
Thanks for the ping.
I heard a voice on the radio, from China, it said that if we did not stop all the complaining, it was going to make people afraid to eat the Chinese products.
Ping.
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