If we've learned anything watching our 401(k)s go down the toilet and the stock market take a pistol-whipping, it's that too-lax regulation and the nowhere-to-hide nature of the global economy leave us vulnerable to all sorts of shenanigans.
Need more proof? Three words: China. Food. Melamine.
On Tuesday, the Chinese government ordered all liquid and powdered milk manufactured before Sept. 14 to be removed from store shelves for testing. At issue is the chemical melamine, which apparently was added to dairy products to make them seem more nutritious.
Four babies have died and more than 54,000 kids in China have been sickened by tainted milk products. Over the last month, melamine has turned up around the globe in candies, chocolate, coffee drinks and other items made with Chinese dairy products. Some ended up on American store shelves.
Although many U.S. consumers may not realize it, China is our third-biggest food supplier, after Canada and Mexico.
Melamine, which is used to make plastics and fertilizer, is nontoxic. But it can combine with other chemicals in the body to form crystals that damage the kidneys and cause other problems.
Because melamine is rich in nitrogen, it can falsely register as protein in food-quality tests. This has prompted some unscrupulous Chinese manufacturers to spike dairy products with the chemical in hopes of making their goods seem more nutritious, as was the case last year when melamine in pet food sickened or killed thousands of cats and dogs.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recalled a small number of Chinese-made products. But some lawmakers and consumer advocates say the FDA's measures don't go far enough and have been too slow in coming.
"As soon as this started happening, we called for a ban on all dairy products from China," said Tony Corbo, senior food lobbyist at Food & Water Watch, a Washington advocacy group. "We never got a response from the FDA."
He said his organization was shocked by a recent announcement from the FDA warning consumers not to go anywhere near Chinese-made baby formula but saying that small amounts of melamine in other food products "do not raise concerns."
"I don't think anyone knows if these levels are dangerous or not dangerous," Corbo said. "The FDA did a very quick analysis and came up with a safety standard that may not be realistic."
