China Is Poisoning You (and Your Dog)

Heineken

It seems as if each day brings yet another revelation about tainted Chinese food imports. And we're swimming in food from China. I heard the other day that 75% of the garlic consumed in the US comes from China, fer chrissake! Today it was reported on the network TV news that shrimp and other fishy products from China are grown in "wastewater" and contain high levels of a dangerous antibiotic that has caused cancer in lab animals.

China also makes heaps of food additives, dyes, preservatives, etc., that you probably swallow every day without knowing it.
The FDA is doing virtually nothing to protect us. No one dares tick China off.
We haven't seen anything like this since the days of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle."
I believe that food should be labeled as to the origin of its ingredients, but it rarely is. Usually just the US "distributor" is identified.

Other than growing some of your own food, what are you doing to protect yourself? What can you do?
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

MD

snowshoegal · Tar Sands Joined: Oct 24, 2006 Posts: 99 Location: Canada

It's all so pre-soylent green, isn't it H?
Yes indeed, the garlic in the chain shops here now comes from China. I've seen Venezuelan garlic, too. Complete with Chavez imprint. In a pinch I have bought it, but shake my head at how far it has traveled.

I do grow my own. Ordered bulbs from a supplier out in Western Canada. After that, you just save some to replant, and it's cool with the seller to do so. It's coming up nicely, too. Yay! Unlike my sunflowers that were ravished by some varmint in the night this past week. Grrrrr.... Mad

Garlic grows well alongside rose bushes, and I am having success with that.
What else can I do? Seafoodwise: Well, I have a business trip to Maine next month. Gonna bring back lots of lobster. Mmmmmm... lobsterrrrrr gaaaaa I'll get some butter from a local organic farm, pick some of my garlic greens and what a feast for lucky me.

How about dining out? There are three restaurants here who refuse to use anything but local ingredients. A new one with take out and catering is opening in July. The 100 mile diet is really catching on here.
As for my dog, she gets a holistic diet made locally.

coyote

Yep. Not only food, but also, I read this morning, toothpaste! They put some kind of noxious chemical in there...
In retrospect, I'm actually a little surprised this hasn't happened sooner. As happy as we are to export our ecological disasters around the world, China's decision makers seem more than willing to foul their own nest... why should they treat their exports any differently?

Protecting myself... well, not much so far, I admit. Eventually I want to get to the point where I'm buying and selling only locally. In the meantime, just trying to survive and bring my plans to fruition, hoping I don't get clobbered with something truly nasty in the meantime.
_________________
"If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst." — Thomas Hardy

cynthia · Heavy Crude Joined: May 29, 2005 Posts: 379

H-
Our dog, Lucy became ill during the melamine outbreak. I buy her only Raw Instinct or Evo brand dog food. Very expensive but healthy.
My man bought a treat shaped like a bone(the packaging was bone-shaped too) at the Grocery Outlet and and gave it to her.
Lucy was vomiting and had diarrhea in small spurts over several days after ingesting it. Long story short, her kidney enzymes were high but we managed to get by with only $200 in vet bills and a bland diet of cooked chicken and rice for a few days for her to recover. I know it was the tainted treat since I monitor her diet.
I worry not only what we receive from China but from other countries. Herbicides that are banned in the US are used elsewhere and cross the borders in our food/products without a whit of concern. Sadly, many toxins are not noticed until they've accumulated in toxic levels: cancer, poisoning.
We are fortunate in the PNW to enjoy much locally grown food. I check packaging and I refuse to shop at the MARTS where the poisonous crap is sold. My man learned a huge lesson.
He just wanted to throw the dog a bone.
cynthia

Shannymara

You can grow your own food, and pay a LOT more for what you don't grow, buying food that's organic, or close to it, and from a known source. That's what I do. Obviously not everyone has that luxury, and I am grateful to have it. I believe our healthier diet is reflected in my son's health and intelligence. I'd much rather spend money on good food than a car payment, etc. If I had a car payment, a big TV, credit card debt, etc., I wouldn't be able to afford the good food we eat.

When things go to hell I'll be eating a lot less luxury food. But I don't mind a monotonous diet like most folks do. I've tried to ensure I can be self sufficient in most of the foods I cherish. Coffee and cocoa, I've stockpiled...

I grow my own garlic too, by the way. Smile

_________________
"Every junkie's like a setting sun..." - Neil Young

manu · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 26, 2006 Posts: 760

I would guess that Monsanto is pissed off that China is taking their monopoly on poisoning the American people away. The FDA is just some barking dogs working for the big corporations and really dont care what's in the food. Or in the pharmacutical drugs for that matter. They have already poisoned the U.S., Canada and now want to push their genenically engineered slop on the rest of the world. Not to mention all the pesticides sprayed on everything.

seldom_seen · Fission Joined: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 2047

China uses slave labor to pollute land, sea and sky in an effort to sell poisonous and dangerous products around the world.
The same country that gave the world Lao Tzu, Taoism, Zen and traditional Chinese medicine.
How could this be? Very sad. China is now in a terminal dark age.

manu · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 26, 2006 Posts: 760

Yes, they have chosen to follow the U.S.A. over the cliff.

Heineken

The consensus seems to be "grow your own or buy locally grown food."
Makes sense, but . . .
Growing all your own food is a full-time job, and even then you might not succeed.

Similarly, I seriously doubt if any of us can survive exclusively on locally grown food products. Many veggies and some fruits, yes, in season. Perhaps it can be done but it's another huge job, and you'll probably drive a lot more than if you shopped at the local grocery.

Overall I see this as another intractable problem that will be "solved" only by PO and by economic and environmental Collapse. Until then we need at a minimum vigorous enforcement of food purity laws/standards and a new system of food labeling that disclosed the source(s), again vigorously enforced with severe penalties for violators. Unfortunately, the US has no interest in that, and even if we did we've blown all our money on Bush's War.
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

Heineken

TheDude

Fishman

H
I guess this is another, " I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you" situation. Growing what you can, when you can, eat locally as possible, puts one ahead in the peak oil situation, and the Chinese contam. situation. You may still get exposed but you lower your chances. Hopefully others will be the "canary".

cynthia · Heavy Crude Joined: May 29, 2005 Posts: 379

Good God, Gideon, I don't think hysteria is involved here. The vet performed bloodwork (scientific) and raised the concern of poisoning consistent with her kidney enyme count, which coincided with the tainted food recall.
Other products from this company were being recalled but not that treat specifically (to my knowledge. I stopped watching the list long after Lucy became well). It was a reasonable conclusion since our dog is watched closely and we know nearly 100% of the time what she has ingested.
The hysteria will rise as we experience more and more products that are carelessly created for our consumption to keep up with demand (which can happen in the old USA, thank you very much. Think listeria and E.coli).
And yes, Heineken, it's not practical to locally produce all of our goods. I've given thought as to what I would do if for whatever reason I had to feed my dog without the luxury of a 50# sack of food from the store.
Mice? Gophers? (I better get better at trapping the latter).
cynthia

cynthia · Heavy Crude Joined: May 29, 2005 Posts: 379