Manataka™ American Indian Council
BIOLOGICAL WAR-FEAR
By
Joseph Farah
WASHINGTON –
China, the leading exporter of seafood to the U.S., is raising most of its
fish products in water contaminated with raw sewage and compensating by using
dangerous drugs and chemicals, many of which are banned by the Food and Drug
Administration.
China has consistently topped the list of
countries whose products were refused by the FDA – and that list includes many
countries, including Mexico and Canada, who export far more food products to the
U.S. than China. While less than half of Asia has access to
sewage treatment plants, aquaculture – the raising of seafood products – has
become big business on the continent, especially in China. In China, No. 1 in aquaculture in the world,
3.7 billion tons of sewage is discharged into rivers, lakes and coastal water –
some of which are used by the industry. Only 45 percent of China has any
sewage-treatment facilities, putting the country behind the rest of Asia. According to a new report by
Food & Water Watch, the
aquaculture industry crams fish and shellfish into facilities to maximize
production, generating large amounts of waste, contaminating water and spreading
disease if left untreated. The industry tries to control the spread of bacterial
infections, disease and parasites by pumping the food supplies with antibiotics
and the waters with fungicides and pesticides. Many of the products used are banned in the
U.S. Traces of these drugs have been showing up increasingly in imports –
especially from China. "In addition to potentially making people sick,
overuse of such drugs is contributing to antibiotic resistance, a growing public
health concern in a variety of foods," says Food & Water Watch in its report
"Import Alert: Government Fails Consumers, Falls Short on Seafood Inspections."
But the grave news on China's seafood exports
is worsened by the FDA's inability to inspect imports. The percentage of
important seafood shipments with samples taken for laboratory inspection has
decreased over the past four years, from 0.88 percent in 2003 to 0.59 percent in
2006 – this while seafood consumption in the U.S. was rising and more of that
seafood was coming from China. China became the leading exporter of seafood
to the U.S. in 2004 – and amounts are rising fast. Chinese imports were up 14
percent in 2005 and 23 percent in 2006. This year, so far, they are up 34
percent over 2006. "China's imports of aquaculture products are
increasing despite the country's history of violations for veterinary drug
residues," says Food & Water Watch. "Between 2003 and 2006, 35 percent of all
refusals for veterinary drug residues were found on shipments from China. In
2006, 62.4 percent of all refusals for veterinary drug residues came from
there." Every year, one in four Americans is afflicted
with a food-borne illness, with seafood being responsible for about 18 percent
of 20 percent of those cases – or 15.2 million. "The Food and Drug Administration can't find
what it's not looking for," says Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah
Hauter. "FDA's appalling record on inspecting seafood imports is irresponsible
and poses a real threat to both the health of the American public and to
homeland
security." Meanwhile, as the heat on China's export
policies increases, Beijing is adamant that it is doing nothing wrong, and
brands warnings issued by U.S. officials irresponsible – as in the case the
latest scare over toothpaste contaminated with diethylene glycol. "So far we have not received any report of
death resulting from using the toothpaste," fumed China's General Administration
of Quality Supervision. "The U.S. handling (of this case) is neither scientific
nor responsible." The FDA issued a warning Friday after
toothpaste containing DEG was detected in a shipment seized at the border. The
government says at least 100 people died after taking cough syrup containing
DEG, an industrial solvent used in paint and antifreeze. China's dismal drug-safety record was
underscored this week by a Chinese court's decision to sentence to death the
country's former top drug regulator.
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TRADING POST
Seafood imports from China raised in untreated sewage
Fish products consumed by Americans treated with dangerous drugs, chemicals
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
The
stunning news follows World Net Daily's report last week that FDA
inspectors report tainted food imports from China are being rejected with
increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides
and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs.