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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Caveat emptor



When I saw the story in the news about the Chinese contaminated milk powder that's harmed babies, I was reminded of last year's contaminated pet food that killed a number of dogs and cats here, also from Chinese sources. In both cases, a chemical used in plastics was added to increase a perceived protein content in the products A story in the Christian Science Monitor brings up an important point - it's impossible to oversee all aspects of business, and we must and do, at least to some degree, rely on peoples' integrity to insure the relative safety of products. Here's some of the story ....

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Behind bad baby milk, an ethical gap in China's business

Beijing - As Chinese officials warned Tuesday that contaminated milk powder may have sickened more than the 1,200 babies already identified, the scandal revealed more than a recurrent regulatory problem, Chinese and foreign experts suggested.

Rather, they said, it pointed to a deeper malaise in Chinese society where private profit often trumps the public good as the country races to create a market economy that has outstripped government regulators.

"China has the problems of any transitional economy," says Yanzhong Huang, a global health expert at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. "But the deeper and more fundamental challenge China faces is a systematic lack of business ethics."

"You cannot fully police the whole food chain," adds Dali Yang, a politics professor at the University of Chicago. "A lot depends on changes in social norms. People have to recognize that integrity does matter." ......

Investigators say it appears that milk merchants, selling to Sanlu the raw milk they had bought from farmers, had added the chemical – normally used in plastics and fertilizers – to boost the milk's apparent protein content ......

Not only did Sanlu fail to detect the melamine in its milk powder, the company has also so far failed to explain why it did not publicly reveal the problem until Sept. 11, although it had received complaints from worried parents as early as last March, and identified the contamination on Aug. 6 .....

Last year, after a wave of food safety scandals involving pet food, toothpaste, and seafood, the Chinese government pledged stricter controls, especially of food destined for export ......

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- from 2007


3 Comments:

Blogger victor said...

You’re just too quick for me Crystal! If I leave you for a day or two to check someone else’s blog, you’ve gotten way over my head and I have no chance of really ever catching UP with you. I think that you certainly have what Darwin would probably call a human animal brain.:).

You’ll need to forgive me if I get off topic somewhat, I hear ya! What’s new vic?, cause I just had a few beers and that seems to bring my spirit out and play a little. He tells me that he’s no match for my cat Tiger’s Spirit.

I recall when I first held him, Tiger, in my hands and that was after he hooked his fangs into one of my fingers and literally drew blood after I pulled him out of a brush sometime in 2005, I think, in order to bring him to the human society. Well I looked him in the eyes and fell in love with him and I knew that I could never let him go to that place. We brought the other cats that were left in our yard but I told my wife that he bit me so I was keeping him just incase he had some kind of virus or something. My wife looked me in the eyes and said sure vic, I understand! The way she looked at me in the eyes it’s almost like she was saying, you can’t fool me you sentimental old fool!

It’s a long sad and joyful story and I did write some of it in my first blog but that’s history now.

I’ll start closing by saying that the shelter mentioned that his mom and one of his siblings died that night and they even went out to say that they wanted Tiger but to make a long story short, I was not going to give up that easy and he’s still around playing games with my spirit and on occasions, he even let’s my flesh join in. (lol)

I could write on and on explaining why I think that he’s a lot smarter than we humans but most would not believe me anyway and besides, I’ve taken enough time here already!

I’ll just close by saying thanks again cause supper is waiting and leave it at that for now.

Still enjoy your post even if I don’t always get a chance to comment.

God Bless :)

3:22 PM  
Blogger crystal said...

Thaks, Victor. Tiger sounds like my Kermit :)

9:09 PM  
Blogger Mark said...

victor, crystal, I would tell the story of my friend Brutus, but you would think I was crazy or lieing. So I'll just let it go. Victor, you know your Tiger is for Obama!! Jack

9:21 AM  

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