China Invites in on-site FDA Inspectors

[SteveGrenard]

Sometimes it just pays to put on the pressure and complain rather than apologize.....
Here is a welcome example of the action taken last week by Chinese and U.S. authorities to help solve the problem of tainted, substandard or even poisonous products being exported from China:

Read the full account of the action here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/business/worldbusiness/12trade.html?bl&ex=1197781200&en=6229c3808c558a7d&ei=5087%0A


XIANGHE, China — China and the United States, seeking to ease the furor over the safety of food exports, signed an agreement Tuesday calling for a greater American role in certifying and inspecting Chinese food products, including an increased presence of American officials at Chinese production plants.

The agreement came as Chinese and American representatives exchanged tough words over recent trade and economic disputes in Beijing on Tuesday and later on Wednesday at the opening of high-level talks in this suburb of the capital.

[Travis]

Somehow this doesn't make me less scared of Chinese products, probably because I viewed everything as hype and wasn't scared in the first place.

At least this might appease those that have nothing better to do than dream up new dangers to everyone they can crusade against.

[mr rosewater]

http://www.sweatfree.org/news_10-29-07-1

Is any of this true?

China has more deaths per capita from work-related illnesses each year than any other country, according to the ILO. In 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, 386,645 Chinese workers died of occupational illnesses, according to Chinese government data compiled by the ILO and cited in the July 14, 2006, Journal of Epidemiology. Millions more live with fatal diseases caused by factory work, other epidemiologists estimated in the article.


Front page story in yesterdays Sunday Star Ledger.

[SteveGrenard]

Somehow this doesn't make me less scared of Chinese products, probably because I viewed everything as hype and wasn't scared in the first place.

At least this might appease those that have nothing better to do than dream up new dangers to everyone they can crusade against.

Maybe you're not scared of products labeled made in China but here's some hype for you though: you just might be scared of products made in China which are not labeled made in China:


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/world/middleeast/17freezone.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th


Three months ago, when the authorities announced that they had seized a large cache of counterfeit drugs from Euro Gulf’s warehouse deep inside a sprawling free trade zone here, they gave no hint of the raid’s global significance.

But an examination of the case reveals its link to a complex supply chain of fake drugs that ran from China through Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the Bahamas, ultimately leading to an Internet pharmacy whose American customers believed they were buying medicine from Canada, according to interviews with regulators and drug company investigators in six countries.

(snipped)

But a critical piece of the puzzle remains missing — who made the counterfeit drugs? Investigators had obtained the license number of a truck that brought the suspect medicine into Hong Kong from mainland China. But that turned out to be a dead end.

And even if investigators do find the factory, there is no shortage of Chinese companies making fake, subpotent or adulterated drug products.

“Some of them in the morning, they manufacture good drugs and in the afternoon and evening they manufacture counterfeit medicine,” said Dr. Mohammed Abu Elkhair, a health official in Abu Dhabi who helped organize a conference last month in the capital city to educate United Arab Emirates officials on how to combat counterfeit medicine.

In October, The New York Times reported that scores of Chinese chemical companies were exporting drug ingredients even though they were not licensed to do so.

Calling counterfeit medicine a growing global threat, Dr. Abu Elkhair said one only had to look at a mass poisoning in Panama last year to understand the seriousness of the problem. More than a hundred people died there because the government had unwittingly mixed a counterfeit ingredient made by a chemical company in China into cold medicine.

“The people there lost faith in the whole health care system, not just in the drug regulations authority,” he said.

[Travis]

Counterfeit medicine is something that could potentially concern me as I, and several members of my family, have to take prescription pills.

Of course we all get our pills from reputable pharmacies and not from the internet. If these start getting mixed up with the legitimate market for pills it would be something I would certainly worry about.

[SteveGrenard]

Counterfeit medicine is something that could potentially concern me as I, and several members of my family, have to take prescription pills.

Of course we all get our pills from reputable pharmacies and not from the internet. If these start getting mixed up with the legitimate market for pills it would be something I would certainly worry about.

Well you put food in your mouth and swallow it just like a pill. If it is tainted you would be just as sick or worse, like the 100 or so kids who died in Panama from the cough syrup made with antifreeze in lieu of glycerin.

A reputable pharmacy won't entirely protect you. Your reputable pharmacy gets its drugs from a distributor who gets them from another distributor who gets them from importers. Distributors sometimes look around for deals which is how counterfeit meds end up in your reputable neighborhood pharmacy. Counterfeits enter the legitimate marketplace after traversing a number of layers. I grant you the discount internet pharmacies looking for cheap prices increases the possibilities enormously.

[Travis]

Well pretty much any consumer item hypothetically could be counterfeit. I suppose if one really considered it a threat to their existence they should simply never buy anything ever again. Personally I just don't consider really small amounts of lead in toys to be that great a risk. Shoot when I was a kid we used to play with a bunch of lead blocks (from which we learned that lead really is very heavy) we found in an old shed. Eventually someone came and claimed them for their monetary value.

[Wolfman]

Despite Steve's ongoing obsession with this issue, there is definitely a need for greater oversight and monitoring of products made in China. However, contrary to Steve's apparent conclusion that it is because of pressure and complaints from the outside world, the plain truth of the matter is that the major force driving this change is internal complaints and pressure. Which is a natural result of the market economy China now embraces, as opposed to the previous state-controlled economy.

Here's how it works.

Some Chinese manufacturers produce products that are of poor quality, or even dangerous. These products are sold overseas. When these products are discovered, there's all sorts of media coverage, products are recalled, and the companies that bought those products from China lose both money and reputation.

Results? Chinese companies lose business, too. And a lot of the companies that are losing business are simply judged 'guilty by association', even if they actually produce good quality products (which a lot of Chinese companies do).

So all those good Chinese companies that are losing business because of the bad practices of some others start lobbying the government, demanding change. It is their profits, their businesses that are being threatened. And when those voices get loud enough, and enough political pressure is exerted...the government gives in, and implements tougher measures.

The Chinese gov't doesn't give a hoot about non-Chinese companies losing money, or having their reputations damaged. And the Chinese gov't has demonstrated time and time again that it doesn't particularly care what the U.S. gov't (or any other gov't) thinks of its internal policies and practices.

These changes came about as a direct result of internal pressures, pressures that are directly driven and influenced by the increasing influence of China's market economy. A process which myself and many others familiar with China have been promoting for many years now. A bunch of foreigners crying and making demands on China will never, ever have the same impact or results that complaints and demands coming from the Chinese themselves will have.

And, as I've said before, that's one of the reasons that myself, and many others, are over here in China. To help facilitate this process of change internally, by working as partners with the reputable Chinese companies, rather than playing the role of the foreign stooge who watches from the outside and simply issues proclamations about what they should or should not do.

[SteveGrenard]

Despite Steve's ongoing obsession with this issue, there is definitely a need for greater oversight and monitoring of products made in China. However, contrary to Steve's apparent conclusion that it is because of pressure and complaints from the outside world, the plain truth of the matter is that the major force driving this change is internal complaints and pressure. Which is a natural result of the market economy China now embraces, as opposed to the previous state-controlled economy.

Market forces exert pressure. If the market is export then it exerts pressure.


Some Chinese manufacturers produce products that are of poor quality, or even dangerous. These products are sold overseas. When these products are discovered, there's all sorts of media coverage, products are recalled, and the companies that bought those products from China lose both money and reputation.

Results? Chinese companies lose business, too. And a lot of the companies that are losing business are simply judged 'guilty by association', even if they actually produce good quality products (which a lot of Chinese companies do).

So all those good Chinese companies that are losing business because of the bad practices of some others start lobbying the government, demanding change. It is their profits, their businesses that are being threatened. And when those voices get loud enough, and enough political pressure is exerted...the government gives in, and implements tougher measures.

Of course the good guys are going to lobby against the bad guys. This is a good thing.


The Chinese gov't doesn't give a hoot about non-Chinese companies losing money, or having their reputations damaged. And the Chinese gov't has demonstrated time and time again that it doesn't particularly care what the U.S. gov't (or any other gov't) thinks of its internal policies and practices.

If true that it is particularly short sighted. If a non-Chinese company is selling Chinese products they damn well should be concerned about them.


These changes came about as a direct result of internal pressures, pressures that are directly driven and influenced by the increasing influence of China's market economy. A process which myself and many others familiar with China have been promoting for many years now. A bunch of foreigners crying and making demands on China will never, ever have the same impact or results that complaints and demands coming from the Chinese themselves will have.

I concede on the internal pressures but then I never said otherwise. But perhaps it is a
combination of internal and external pressures. These are both powerful forces in the market and could make or break you.


And, as I've said before, that's one of the reasons that myself, and many others, are over here in China. To help facilitate this process of change internally, by working as partners with the reputable Chinese companies, rather than playing the role of the foreign stooge who watches from the outside and simply issues proclamations about what they should or should not do.

Since you are the one with the feet on the ground you do what you feel is best and what will work. I wish you luck and appreciate your efforts. Just wanted to let folks know we can now add the FDA to those feet on the ground and I wish them luck as well in what may be a particularly onerous task.