China Exporting Antifreeze Component as Common Sweetener
May 7th, 2007Via: Bloomberg:
Regulators in the U.S. are warning drugmakers, suppliers and health professionals to be on the alert for counterfeit medicine additives that substitute a poison used in antifreeze for a common sweetener.
The Food and Drug Administration knows of no contamination cases in the U.S. like those that caused deaths in Panama, Haiti and elsewhere in recent years, the agency said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Some Chinese suppliers have used poisonous diethyline glycol, or DEG, as a substitute for glycerin, a more expensive sweet syrup, in cough medicine, fever medication and injectable drugs, the New York Times reported today. Researchers estimate that thousands of deaths worldwide have been caused by drugs contaminated by DEG, an industrial solvent and an ingredient in some antifreeze, the newspaper said.
The FDA “is emphasizing the importance of testing glycerin for DEG due to the serious nature of this potentially fatal problem in combination with the global nature of the pharmaceutical supply chain and problems that continue to occur,” the agency said in the statement released May 4.
Tainted cough syrup caused more than 40 deaths in Panama in 2006, and at least 80 children in Haiti died of tainted acetaminophen syrup in late 1995 and early 1996, the FDA said. Similar poisonings were reported in the 1990s in Argentina, Bangladesh, India and Nigeria.
Research Credit: KL
Yup. The Cold War never ended.
“For to win 100 victories in 100 battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”
The diabolical Chinese regime is improving on Sun Tzu. They’re fleecing the enemy at the same time.
Incredible.
First tainted food and now poison as sweetener, what next? Liquid Plutonium inside coke?
Diabolical? Never underestimate the West. Just look at its history.
Just remember, when Godzilla and Mothra fight, cities and civilians get destroyed.
Luckily, Godzilla will eventually defeat Mothra. Or perhaps they’ll get tired of fighting. Or maybe they’ll kiss and make-up.
Of course, all of the civilian infrastructure is ruined.
But that gives the civilians something to do!
Other than make trouble for their betters, that is.
This seems like the logical conclusion of our current business model. The goal is to decrease costs at any cost. Checking for quality of supplied products was removed from most business processes a long time ago. Quality control cannot be made profitable. Add this to the idea of profiting on all transactions(*) and it seems like someone would make a killing charging to dispose of toxic waste and selling it as something else to someone else.
I’d bet there’s an MBA school somewhere that teaches this philosophy, including how to shield yourself from the legal consequences of mass murder. =)
(*) = The TV model: Advertising is used to justify providing content for free. Slowly increase the advertising over time and then convince customers that you have to charge for delivery (cable/dish/etc) so they pay for the same content twice and don’t even notice.
Are the Chinese pure evil or what?
A few moronic corner-cutters (who probably are ignorantly mistaking “glycol” for “glycerine”), and “China” is invading the world. I wish it was that simple. Crass, money-grubbing stupidity knows no borders. But for the children who have died, the origins of this travesty should be identified and the perpetrators executed for criminal negligence. Knowing the Chinese government’s enthusiasm for capital punishment for the slightest of offenses, the perpetrators will probably be relieved of their lives as soon as the People find out who they are. I am sure Kevin intends the lesson of this event to be: our world has developed into a labyrinth so complex that even the most diligent oversight fails to prevent bogus medicine from killing kids. Tragic. It’s our world, China, USA, Haiti, everywhere.
i’m just waiting for the ‘soylent green’ to make an appearance….it’ll likely have an asian flavour to it at first…..
Both theories are merely intellectual exercises, since none of us knows for absolute sure.
Cost-cutting and Liability-Shielding? That’s the corporate way. Most corporations are like giant cyclops that only care about the short-term. However, other corporations, usually those that are smaller and privately held, care more about the long term, because they have to maintain healthy relationships with their customers. Since the heads of large corporations never see their customers, because they are so far apart on the value chain, they do not experience the same sense of urgency.
I mean, the system, like any system, is not inherently evil, but it does condition people within it to follow orders rigidly, and to dehumanize other people within and outside the system. Religious systems often buttressed this by making people treat each other nicer, but this has broken down because the mainstream culture has become too materialistic and godless for its own good. People want the wrong things. They chase cash rather than wealth.
The Chinese are trying to imitate us. Communism, like any authoritarian ideology centrally imposed on people from a bureaucratic elite, created a lot of problems for them. Now they are running Capitalism within their country as a sub-program to see if they can create wealth while preserving their political sovereignty.
But even though they license, buy, and otherwise acquire technology from the West, they still lack all of the know-how, and their culture needs time to acclimatize. So they are like the U.S. during the Industrial Revolution.
But on the flip side, they are also competing with the West for resources. Since they are trying copy the West, with help from Western Industry, which helps for $$$, they are taking Western pathologies.
As if our pathologies weren’t already bad enough, now the Chinese will acquire them.
This would then force the West to become more energy efficient, as it has to quit high-energy consumption cold turkey, if it has not made the proper preparations.
Smart Westerners horde technologies that allow them to grow food locally and with a minimum of labor. Western lifestyles in the U.S. will become more like those in Europe. People will leave the cities to colonize parts of the country. This began after 9/11 and will continue. The cities will become more energy efficient.
Or there could be a giant war because of resource competition.
But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
I mean, it doesn’t really have to, but it could.
I’d bet there’s an MBA school somewhere that teaches this philosophy, including how to shield yourself from the legal consequences of mass murder. =)
———
I can give you first person insight into an MBA school that does almost exactly that!! And the really tragic thing about it is that it happened when I was attending Jackson State University a few years ago pursuing my MBA. Jackson State University is a historically black college (HBCU). I was attending on an academic scholarship and saw many instances where ethics took a back seat to profits.
Example: Business Ethics: Studied many cases of corporate fraud and whistle blowing. Conclusion: Don’t be a whistle blower. Blacks have enough of a hard time fitting in. You’ll ruin your career. For the record I am white…..as was the instructor. On the one hand I was shocked, concerned and amazed, but on the other, look at how well the liars and cheaters have done!!!
It was also during my undergrad studies that I took the LAST CLASS JSU was offering on Labor Relations. It was being axed because there was no reason to worry about it anymore given the politics of our era. I am not making this up.
Enjoy.