GET THE FACTS

Posted on July 25, 2007
by Maureen Keene

Imports of food and food ingredients, drugs and drug ingredients, toys and other children’s products, and all types of consumer goods have increased exponentially in recent years, especially goods from China. However, the agencies charged with monitoring the safety of these products have not kept pace. They are underfunded, understaffed and simply unequipped to meet the safety challenges posed by the globalized world we live in.

Below are some alarming statistics on dangerous imports and the critical shortcomings of agencies like the Food and Drug Administration the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

FOOD & DRUG IMPORTS and the FDA:

The U.S. imported nearly $64 billion in foods in 2006, yet the FDA only inspects 1% of foods entering the U.S. and tests only 0.5%. (1)
Over the past 25 years, Chinese agricultural exports to the U.S. surged nearly 20-fold to $2.26 billion last year, led by poultry products, sausage casings, shellfish, spices and apple juice. (2)
Shipments from China were rejected at the rate of about 200 per month this year, the largest from any country. (2)
In 2001, the U.S. imported about $4.4 billion worth of ingredients processed from plants or animals. By last year that total leaped to $7.6 billion — a 73% increase. Other food and drink imports rose from $38.3 billion to $63 billion — up 65%. (3)
China is the leading source of many common foods and ingredients imported into the U.S.: (4)
- Apple Juice Concentrate (45%)
- Garlic (50%)
- Honey (19%)
- Ascorbic Acid (80%)
Funding for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety has dropped from $48 million in 2003 to about to $30 million in 2006, according to the center’s 2006 budget priority statement. Full-time jobs in the Center for Food Safety have also been cut from 950 in 2003 to about 820 in 2006, according to the budget statement. (5)
Chinese seafood imports jumped from about $550 million in 2001 to about $1.9 billion last year, about 22% of total seafood imports. But 60% of the seafood shipments that were refused entry by American regulators came from China. In May alone, regulators tagged “filthy frozen scallops”; catfish, eel and shrimp laced with banned chemicals; unsafe additives; pesticides; and cancer-causing agents. (6)
20% of generic and OTC drugs and more than 40% of active ingredients for drugs made here come from India and China. It’s predicted that within 15 years 80% of key ingredients will come from those two countries. Yet on the ground inspections of Indian and Chinese plants remain rare and relatively brief and are always scheduled in advance, unlike the surprise visits that FDA inspectors pay to domestic manufacturers. (7)
The head of China’s FDA was executed for accepting bribes and authorizing dangerous drugs to go to market. (8)
Tens of thousands of crates of unsafe pharmaceuticals have reached the local market (in China) — from antibiotics to vaccines, from drugs to treat erectile dysfunction to ones to strengthen the immune system. The government does not know how many deaths and serious illnesses have resulted from faulty drugs. (8)

TOYS & OTHER CONSUMER PRODUCTS and the CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION (CPSC):

The number of Chinese-made products that are being recalled in the United States has doubled in the last five years. Chinese imports accounted for more than 60 percent of the recalls announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission this year and all of the 24 toy recalls. (9)
The Chinese government opposes a proposed U.S. standard limiting the amount of lead allowed in bracelets, necklaces and other jewelry sold for children. (10)
All but three of more than 30 Consumer Product Safety Commission recalls for lead in children’s jewelry since 2003 were for China-made items. The others were made in India. (10)
The CPSC says 20,000 children were treated in emergency rooms from 2000 to 2005 after swallowing jewelry. (The number doesn’t include choking incidents.) A 4-year-old boy died last year after swallowing a charm that was 99% lead. (10)
Lunch boxes made in China pose a lead poisoning danger. A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the AP yielded 1,500 pages of documents that show the CPSC tested 60 vinyl lunch boxes in 2005 and that one in five of those boxes contained hazardous levels of lead. Yet after the testing process, the CPSC publicly said that it found “no instances of hazardous levels.” (11)
A Tribune analysis of data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows that since January 2004, the agency has issued 303 recalls for children’s products, including 94 recalls of toys. A total of 218 of those recalls — or 72 percent — were for products manufactured in China. (12)
The vast majority of the toys marketed in the United States are made in China, a fact reflected in the CPSC recall data. A total of 78 of the 94 toy recalls — 83 percent — during that time period were for toys made in China. (12)
The CPSC has fewer than half the number of employees it had in 1980 — deeper cuts than in any other federal health and safety regulator. Yet the number of products the CPSC oversees, everything from chain saws to baby cribs, has exploded. (13)
Of the 360,374 injury reports that arrived in 2005 from hospital emergency rooms, the CPSC assigned less than 1 percent for a more in-depth investigation. (13)
The CPSC cannot issue a mandatory recall without a lenghty court process. Instead it tries to persuade companies to recall items voluntarily. Federal law gives companies significant control over any information the CPSC releases about a product, including recall alerts. (14)

Sources:

As Imports Increase, A Tense Dependence on China, NPR, May 25, 2007
China’s Food Safety Woes Now a Global Concern, Associated Press, April 12, 2007, MSNBC
U.S. Food Safety Strained by Imports, Associate Press, April 23, 2007, CBS News
China’s Budding Food Industry Faces Scrutiny, Elizabeth Weise, USA Today, May 21, 2007
Food Safety Worries Mount, Stephen J. Hedges and Mary Ann Fergus, Chicago Tribune, April 17, 2007
A Slippery, Writhing Trade Dispute, David Barboza, New York Times, July 3, 2007
FDA Scrutiny Scant in India, China as Drugs Pour Into U.S., Marc Kaufman, Washington Post, June 17, 2007
A Chinese Reformer Betrays His Cause, and Pays, David Barboza, New York Times, July 13, 2007
Shoppers Concerned About Chinese Goods, Martin Crutsinger, Associate Press, July 6, 2007, SFGate.com
China Balks at Lead Limits on Kids’ Jewelry, Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, June 17, 2007
Safety Agency Denied It Ignored Lead in Children’s Lunchboxes, Joseph S. Enoch, ConsumerAffairs.com, February 22, 2007
Senator Seeks Probe of Unsafe Toys, Maurice Possley, Chicago Tribune, June 26, 2007
Tribune Investigation: Hidden Hazards (Part 1), Toy Magnets Kill Young Boy, Patricia Callahan, Chicago Tribune, May 5, 2007
Tribune Investigation: Hidden Hazards (Part 2), Inside the Botched Recall of a Dangerous Toy, Patricia Callahan, Chicago Tribune, May 75, 2007