I Guess China Can Afford To Cut Corners On Food Safety-- They've Got A Billion More People To Spare

Costa Rican health officials said Friday they have seized more than 350 tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste tainted with a deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes sold elsewhere in the world.

Health Secretary Maria Luisa Avila said 56 tubes of toothpaste containing diethylene glycol, a chemical commonly used in antifreeze and brake fluid, were found in the northern city of Liberia, and 306 more were seized from a warehouse in the capital of San Jose.

Diethylene glycol, or DEG, is a thickening agent used as a low-cost - but frequently deadly - substitute for glycerin, a sweetener commonly used in drugs. DEG was blamed for the deaths of at least 51 people in Panama last year after it was mixed into cough syrup, another case with ties to China.

On the heels of the Costa Rican seizure, Nicaraguan police announced the following day that they had seized 6,000 tubes of the potentially-lethal Chinese-made toothpaste. All U.S. imports of Chinese toothpaste have been halted as of last week to test for diethylene glycol.

Nicaraguan Health Minister Maritza Cuan told reporters the seized toothpaste, labeled "Excel" and "Mr. Cool," had been smuggled in from Panama. "What we have to do now is recover all the toothpaste imported into the country so it doesn't damage the population," Cuan said. In Nicaragua, the toothpaste was seized from a vast market in the capital. Some vendors also were hawking it door to door, Cuan said. The product also could have been smuggled from Panama to Honduras and Colombia.

And just last week, the FDA also warned U.S. consumers not to buy or eat imported fish labeled as monkfish because it might actually be pufferfish, which contains a potentially deadly toxin called tetrodotoxin. Eating pufferfish that contains the potent toxin could result in serious illness or death, the FDA said.

An importer recalled 282 22-pound boxes labeled as Chinese monkfish that it distributed to Illinois, California and Hawaii, the FDA said. Two Chicago-area people became ill after eating the fish, which government testing later revealed contained life-threatening levels of tetrodotoxin.

“There is a harsh reality here: When it comes to food, ‘Made in China’ is now a warning label in the United States,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL. The Chinese government has said it is investigating the case involving the toothpaste (which the manufacturer has said is safe) and has formed a government task force to deal with the matter. Earlier this year, food ingredients from China were also blamed in the deaths of dogs and cats in North America.

In response to the recent spate of food safety issues related to Chinese-made products, the Bush administration asked the Chinese government to increase oversight of food and drug exports. In response, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (in Washington for high-level economic talks last week) warned against politicizing economic and trade issues.

Attention China: Broken radios and cheap tennis shoes won't kill ya-- but if you keep cutting corners on food products (and our government won't take serious action) things are going to get political pretty fast.