Made in China = Certain Death?

The Fairbank Report was the first to break several stories on tainted Chinese-made products, including tainted toothpaste in the United States and Panama, tainted medicine sold within China and exported to Latin America and of course the tainted pet food scandal, which resulted in numerous deaths of American pets.

And we were the first to call for a ban on all Chinese-made products, in particular foodstuffs, in the United States.

Yet, no action. Not quite. The Chinese did execute their FDA administrator. This is classically Chinese tactic: “Kill the monkey to scare the chickens.” In other words, symbolic justice. The stench of corruption is so deep and pervasive that there is very little the central government can do except for these showcased executions. Recall that in the late 1990’s, the former mayor of Beijing (who occupied a very high-level position within the Byzantine labyrinth of Chinese government) was executed for “economic crimes.” Yet, corruption remains rampant as before his execution, if not worse. Once again, symbolic justice over substantive reform.

So there will certainly be more cases of tainted Chinese-made products that will kill or maim thousands, if not tens of thousands, and the world will go on consuming them. Sigh!