Chinese Food Safety

This article closely follows another article I reported on a short while ago which also had to do with chinese imports, especially agricultural ones. This article reports on a U.S. health inspection team that is visiting China in order to investigate first hand the quality of the foods they are exporting to the United States. This inspection team was sent in because of a growing number of complaints about the safety of Chinese imports. Recently several Chinese products with unsafe chemicals, including pet food, toys, toothpaste, and fish, were found in foreign markets, including American ones.

This discovery of products containing dangerous chemicals is very serious because of the amount of goods that we import from China, which is staggering but which I don't have the exact numbers for. Also, as one of my blogs last week detailed, food imports, and foods from other places but which contain ingredients from China are very hard to track and/or account for, because the world lacks an international monitoring agency to watch over all of these issues. This is an issue that worries me a little bit, because even though we have an effective food safety monitoring system here (FDA), it's much harder to monitor all international food. This, coupled with a lack of even identifying effectively what foods come from where, creates a kind of troubling situation. Do we know the food we're eating is safe? While I believe that an international agency should be formed to moniter these types of things, I also acknowledge just how hard such a program would be to initiate.

A Red River Runs Through It

Stories like these need to be reported more often, in my oppinion. This story exposes a current enviornmental problem in China and with it, gives yet another example of a shameful truth of modern day society. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a CNN medical correspondent, recently visited Llangqiaoa, a small farming village on the Hengshui River, to investigate rumors about rampant water pollution there. When she arrived, she found that the river was literally red, and further investigation revealed that it was due to mining run-offs from a government run mining complex 60 km. upriver. The mine is dumping rust, arsenic, zinc, and cadmium in levels that have given the river a level five toxicity rating (out of 5) which means, basically, that the water is too polluted to touch, much less use for plants or drink. The village of Llangqiaoa, however, relies on this river for both of these necessities, and has no alternative options. Out of the villages 400 residents, 30 have died of cancer in the last few years...

The only good news to come out of this story is that an environmental lawyer, Xing Jing, has taken up the case and is attempting to sue the governement in order to hold it responsible. This ray of light brings with it two implications; one good and one bad. On the positive side, it is an example of the growing environmental movement in China, a country which has in recent decades focused almost single-mindedly on economic growth while disregarding concerns for the environment. The negative implication of this article is the sad truth that for some reason, environmental, and even human rights, violations seem to continue to be carried out in the world, and are only stopped when someone sues the responsible party, instead of when the atrocity is recognized.

Made in China

This article presents a great example that sheds light on just how globalized our nation and world really are at this point. It details the attempt of one American family, the Bongiorini's, as they tried living an entire year without buying anything from China. The idea was started after the mother, Sara, wondered if doing so was even possible and decided to try. As could be expected, this turned into a full time task, but what she wasn't ready for was the amount of time and energy she would devote to locating foods weren't grown or containing ingredients grown in China. One reason this was so difficult was because of the lack a of solid food monitoring program for keeping track of where the ingredients used in many foods are actually from. Another reason was because of the incredible amounts of food we're now importing from China; over $4 billion worth annually (up from just $800 million 12 years ago).

I think it is amazing that our society has reached the point where it has become a time consuming task just to determine where the food we eat and things we buy actually come from, and really exemplifies for us just how engrained our entire world has become in globalization. Such massive international trade would never have been possible just a few short decades ago. Also, this family's attempt is an example representative of a growing awareness in this country by citizens who want to move more toward locally grown and produced goods. A final topic to think about is just much of our food and goods are from China, especiialy when one considers how just a few decades ago, China's export business was nowhere near it's current levels. Their ability to enter into and soon become such an integral part of a global economy is a truly amazing achievement that speaks volumes for their amazingly quick development over the past 30 years.

Heat waves in Europe

This article is about the current heat wave that is now decimating parts of Europe, namely, in Hungary, Macedonia, and Romania. This is not the first heat wave to kill hundreds of people across Europe in recent years; it's happened the last few years consecutively actually. I believe this relates to international development because in order to provide citizens with safe living conditions, the governments and development agencies in these areas need to invest heavily in air conditioning units, something that has not exactly been common practice throughout Europe's history because it hasn't been until recent years that they have been so devastated by heat waves. It marks a new era in which Europe must develop new building mandates that include air conditioning to prevent this from continuing to happen each year.

Oil and environment in Ecuador

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/07/23/ecuador.oil/index.html?iref=newssearch

This article details how the ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, is trying to both boost his nations economy while also saving its environment. His plan for doing so is asking rich nations to pay him $350 million dollars a year in order to not tap over 1 million barrels worth of oil underneath his country. This is part of a carbon offset program endorsed by wealthy individuals all over the world, in which they pay money to countries to not exploit there resources. They pay the countries not to do so, so that the country doesnt lose any money by saving its environment. This relates to international development because the oil business is one of the most prevelant in the field, as well as one of the leading contributers to environmental problems around the world. I think its a great step for everyone everywhere, because no one really loses.