Commentary by George Anderson
Is it possible that America may finally be learning the lesson that you really do "get what you pay for"? Based on an ongoing series of problems with cheap goods imported from China, it isn't hard to see how some could answer that question with a very strong "Yes."
The continuing incidence of safety issues being discovered with the imports would be almost laughable had it not been for the very real price paid in health terms by consumers and family pets.
Tainted ingredients in toothpaste and pet food, lead paint on children's toys, unsafe car and truck tires and now concerns about harmful residues in seafood imported from China raise serious questions about that nation's ability to be the "trusted" trading partner that U.S. companies and consumers count on.
In the most recent case, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USDA) has said it will no longer allow imports of "farm-raised catfish, basa, shrimp, dace (related to carp), and eel" from China until it can be proven the foods are safe for human consumption.
The agency is not calling for a recall of Chinese farm-raised seafood already in the country. The FDA said there have been no reports of people becoming ill after consuming Chinese seafood. The agency's concern and the reason for the ban is that long-term exposure to some of the contaminants in the seafood could result in health problems.
According to a FDA press release: "The contaminants were the antimicrobials nitrofuran, malachite green, gentian violet, and fluoroquinolone. Nitrofuran, malachite green, and gentian violet have been shown to be carcinogenic with long-term exposure in lab animals. The use of fluoroquinolones in food animals may increase antibiotic resistance to this critically important class of antibiotics."
Discussion Questions: Are American consumers in the process of losing trust in goods imported from China? What impact does all the negative news about imports from China have on how manufacturers and retailers view suppliers from that nation? Is it time to look elsewhere to source goods?
According to a blog on the Consumer Reports' website, "The number of Chinese-made products that are being recalled in the U.S. has doubled in the last five years, helping to drive the total number of recalls in this country to an annual record of 467 last year. Chinese-made products account for 60 percent of all consumer-product recalls, and 100 percent of all 24 kinds of toys recalled so far this year. Even China's own government auditing agency found that 20 percent of the toys made and sold in China had safety hazards."