Check the paste

[im_enilas]

Saw in the news that China has been shipping poisoned toothpaste around the world. It's been found in several countries including Austalia, Panama and Dominican Republic, the US is checking shipments of toothpaste. (Colgate and Crest said their toothpastes are made in the US

Comments

[corvus_coronis]

I just checked my toothpaste - thankfully it says it was manufactured locally.

[im_enilas]

I went to check mine, and it says nothing about where it was made. I've noticed food here (USA) rarely says where it's made, possibly toothpaste falls under the food rules.

One thing that totally aggravates me is my family are farmers. I grew up going to bankruptcy auctions because they couldn't make ends meet. The prices they got for the food they raised had not noticeably increased in years, meanwhile operation costs had greatly risen. So there is food raised here, there is land not being farmed because it's not cost effective and we import our food. How can if be cost effective to ship food from the other side of the world? What if we made the ships pay for the pollution they pour out on the trip? Plus, honestly, I don't think it is doing China any favors to be manufacturing and farming so much. The rivers and air are polluted, and people there do not have a long life expectancy.

[potionsmistres]

I've read a couple of articles in the local paper about China. One had to do with food inspections, and the fact that the FDA lacks the time, money, and manpower to inspect everything that comes in, including from China; and that they've had more food returned to them (for things like being rotten, made with poisonous chemicals, etc.)--and that compared to Canada (another big importer), dollar for dollar, they've had tens of millions worth of food returned because it's not fit for consumption. And that assumes they don't turn around and smuggle it in. I also read that pollution is getting worse in China--air quality, water quality, it's all going downhill. But, I still think it's cheaper for us to import from China (hey, when you don't have to pay your workers a living wage...) than it is to grow our own food. I'm not calling for an isolationist policy, but some common sense would be nice.