Chemicals From China Not Killing Just Pets

An article in the New York Times today discusses how forty-six barrels of a toxic chemical known to be poisonous to humans found their way into childrens cough syrup in Panama.

Rather than pretend we can explain this better than the NYT, you should go read the full article yourself. But here is the gist of it:

Glycerin, commonly used in syrupy drugs, toothpaste and other products, is relatively expensive.

Diethylene glycol, a deadly solvent and one of the main ingredients to antifreeze, is relatively cheap.

Chinese counterfeit drug manufacturers wanted to save some money and exported the poison to Panama, passing it off as glycerin.

The diethylene glycol found its way into 260,000 bottles of childrens cold medicine, and 365 deaths have been reported SO FAR.

These are innocent children dying, and parents grieving, wrestling with the knowledge that they fed their own child poison.

All so a company in china could cut corners to make a buck.

So for anyone out there who thinks that our dogs and cats are the only family members put in harms way because of our one-way, open trade policy with China - let this be an eye opener.

Maybe "the war on terrorism" isn't our biggest threat today... ?

Did Cardinal Distributing Poison Your Child for Profit?

If you think that all of the recalls we list are just innocent little mistakes, think again. Sometimes companies knowingly endanger us, our pets and our children to make a quick buck... or even a quick .25 cents.

Cardinal Distributing was ordered by the Consumer Product Safety commission in 2004 to pull their Children's Rings with Dice or Horseshoes off the market because they contained enough lead to poison the children using them. These are the tacky little things you can buy in vending machines for a quarter.

So what does this company do? They pull them off the market long enough for the CPCS to turn their backs and then they put the EXACT SAME RINGS back into circulation. If I were a cursing man the following would look very different: Ufreakingbelievable!

These cheap little trinkets were made in India. Why worry about terrorism when countries like India and China are openly flooding our economy with, cheap, lethal goods?

This makes me sick to my stomach to even write about. So instead of writing more, I'll just send you to the CPSC website where you can learn all about the recall.

By the way, I hope this company gets sued to kingdom come. This is what personal injury lawyers call taking lead-filled toys from a baby.