"I was physically disgusted when I saw it on the TV"

"Made in China" label battered by product scandals
Reuters | Ben Blanchard

By Ben Blanchard Mon Dec 8, 8:18 am ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – Milk, toothpaste, cough syrup, pet food, eels, blood thinner, car parts, pork, eggs, honey, chicken, dumplings, cooking oil and rice -- if you can fake it or taint it, you can almost guarantee it's happened in China.

A string of product safety scandals, including contaminated infant formula that is believed to have killed six babies and sickened thousands of others, have rocked the faith of shoppers, making them wary of buying products made in China despite the often cheaper price tag.

"I was physically disgusted when I saw it on the TV," said Sally Villegas, a mother of two in Australia, referring to the melamine-tainted infant formula scandal that came to light in September.

What should have stayed in Vegas didn't for Chinese officials

Chinese officials punished for lavish US tour
AP

The Chinese bureaucrats who spent taxpayers' money on a $700-a-night Las Vegas hotel and visits to Hawaiian beaches and a San Francisco sex show might have gotten away with it if someone hadn't lost a bag on the Shanghai subway.

The dozens of documents and receipts in the bag, with officials' names and enthusiastic comments attached, were swiftly posted on the Internet, spreading like wildfire across Chinese cyberspace over the past week. That brought swift punishment for some officials involved — and another disgusted shrug from Chinese citizens all-too-familiar with corruption.

China to US: make sure Beijing's investments are safe

China tells US to make sure Beijing's investments are safe
AFP on Yahoo


BEIJING (AFP) – China's top envoy to high-level economic talks with the United States urged Washington Thursday to make sure Chinese investments in the US economy were safe.

"We hope the US side will adopt every necessary measure to stabilise its economy and financial markets and ensure the safety of China's assets and investment in the United States," Vice Premier Wang Qishan said.

He made the remark in prepared comments at the start of two days of Sino-US economy talks in Beijing that he is co-chairing with US Treasury chief Henry Paulson.

Authorities discovered the soy meal contained an astonishing 50 times the maximum limit of Melamine

Want to know what organic chickens are fed? If it's soy meal from China -- a cheap source of protein -- it may also contain melamine.

That's what happened with 300 tons of soy meal being fed to organic chicken in western France. Authorities discovered the soy meal contained an astonishing 50 times the maximum limit of melamine: 116mg per kg of soy meal.

This cheap Chinese soy meal was delivered to 127 "organic" chicken farms in France. Nobody yet knows how many organic chicken farms in the U.S., Canada, U.K. or Australia might also be feeding their chickens toxic levels of melamine.

article: NaturalNews.com

China reports huge increase in children sickened by tainted milk

by Karl Malakunas

Mon Dec 1, 10:40 pm ET

BEIJING (AFP) – China has dramatically raised the tally of children sickened by dairy products laced with the industrial chemical melamine to 294,000, more than five times the original figure.

In a late-night statement on Monday, the health ministry also said six babies may have died from consuming poisoned milk, up from a previous confirmed death toll of three.

WSJ: China Freezes Lending to Curb Investing Frenzy

China Freezes Lending to Curb Investing Frenzy
WSJ | JAMES T. AREDDY

Chinese authorities are slamming the brakes on bank lending, in their latest attempt to curb the runaway investment threatening to overheat what is soon to be the world's third-largest economy.

In recent weeks, regulators have quietly ordered China's commercial banks to freeze lending through the end of the year, according to bankers in several cities. The bankers say that to comply, they are canceling loans and credit lines with businesses and individuals.

A China Banking Regulatory Commission official here confirmed that local and Chinese subsidiaries of foreign banks have been asked to ensure that loans at the end of the year don't exceed the total outstanding on Oct. 31. The official described the request as "guidance aimed at supporting the macro-control measures being implemented."

Congress to Yahoo: Boo! to You!

Yahoo execs defend role in arrest/jailing of Chinese journalist

Associated Press Erica Werner


WASHINGTON - Two top Yahoo Inc. officials on Tuesday defended their company's role in the jailing of a Chinese journalist but ran into withering criticism from lawmakers who accused them of complicity with an oppressive communist regime.

"While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said angrily after hearing from the two Yahoo executives.

He angrily urged Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan to apologize to journalist Shi Tao's mother, who was sitting directly behind them.

Shi Tao was sent to jail for 10 years for engaging in pro-democracy efforts deemed subversive after Yahoo turned over information about his online activities requested by Chinese authorities.