NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:U.S. needs to realize cheaper isn’t necessarily better

As our world’s economy has gone global, we are importing more and more of our goods from the Pacific Rim, especially China. It’s actually becoming difficult to find some types of things still made in America. The reason, of course, is American manufacturers can’t compete with the prices of products made in the developing world. But these cheap foreign goods may be fraught with risk and danger.

In March, pet food manufacturers were forced to recall more than 100 brands of cat and dog food when animals started becoming ill. The FDA fielded more than 14,000 reports from veterinarians and pet owners in the first four weeks of its investigation. The FDA found wheat gluten imported from China was contaminated with melamine. The melamine led to kidney failure and death in numerous pets across the nation before the pet foods were recalled.

Wheat gluten is added to some types of pet food to thicken gravy. It also acts as a protein supplement. Upon further investigation, the FDA discovered the contaminated gluten came from a single Chinese supplier. A few weeks later, melamine was found as a contaminant in rice protein concentrate, which is used in pet food and feed for hogs. Thousands of hogs in the U.S. were destroyed to prevent melamine from entering the food supply for humans.

These food supplements are tested for nitrogen, which is a crude indication of the protein content. The price of the product is often based on the protein content. The higher the reading, the higher the price it can command. By adding a small amount of melamine, the nitrogen reading can be boosted cheaply. And that is what happened. An unscrupulous supplier deliberately added melamine to gluten, causing untold heartache for U.S. pet owners.

It would be nice if that were the end of the safety issues with Chinese products, but of course it wasn’t. In June, the FDA recalled numerous brands of cheap toothpaste made in China and sold at discount outlets because they contained the poison diethylene glycol. The FDA banned sale of toothpaste made in China, but that wasn’t the end of the problem. They next discovered counterfeit toothpaste made in South Africa and pawned off as Colgate toothpaste. It contained high enough levels of bacteria to pose a risk for children, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems.

Several stories of high levels of lead in Chinese-made products have hit the news in recent weeks. Some Hamco vinyl baby bibs made in China and sold at Toys R Us were found to contain three times the allowable amount of lead. There had been earlier reports of lead-containing Hamco bibs sold at Wal-Mart.

Two weeks ago, Mattel recalled 18.5 million toys that had been made in China because of the presence of dangerous levels of lead in the paint. Last week, there was an additional recall of 300,000 toys.

With all of these reports, I decided to read a book Vic’s book club read last year, “China Wakes,” by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn. These two New York Times reporters had been stationed in China during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their book focused on human rights and the student protests in Tiananmen Square, but they also related their impressions of Chinese culture and business practices.

The Chinese businessmen they profiled used bribes and intimidation to coerce customers into buying their products, which sometimes were of poor quality or even totally fake. One manufacturer of veterinary medicines bottled baking soda and water and sold it as a variety of medicines. Buyers were bribed to carry the products, and if anyone complained they didn’t work, they were either paid off or beaten into submission.

Another entrepreneur collected used hypodermic needles. He had peasants rinse them with water and dry them in the sun. They were then repackaged for sale, with no sterilization. Sometimes traces of blood could be seen on the “cleaned” and repackaged needles. Naturally, people got infected from the needles.

After reading “China Wakes,” I thought about a recent experience I had with generic medicine. Unfortunately, HMOs insist we make do with cheap generic medicine whenever it is available. I took an antibiotic for a minor infection and found it wasn’t as effective as that drug usually is for me. That got me to wondering if cheap generic medicine might come from China these days. I found an article in the June 17 Washington Post that underscored problems with cheap generic drugs that are manufactured in China and India.

Ten years ago, India manufactured only eight drugs for U.S. markets. India now manufactures 350 different generic medicines for the U.S., yet our FDA rarely inspects its manufacturing plants to ensure good manufacturing practices are being followed. Two major drug manufacturers in India recently received letters from our FDA, warning them about serious infractions of drug quality control practices.

There has also been a huge increase in the amount of cheap generic drugs imported from China.

Last year, China shipped $675 million drugs to the U.S., more than double what they were selling to us five years ago. The former head of the Chinese food and drug safety agency was sentenced to death recently for accepting bribes from companies he was supposed to regulate.

With a low level of inspections and an increase in imports, there is increased risk that people will get sicker or remain ill due to contaminated or low-quality drugs.

We tend to trust medicine and our food supply, because we expect the FDA to maintain tight control of drug manufacturing processes and our food supply. Vic and I are strong believers in a well-funded, tough FDA.

We’re living in a different world now, one of cheap imports that are poorly inspected. Cheap imported goods, and medicines are not necessarily as good as — or as safe as — American-made food and goods. And you know how we feel about all the diesel fuel used to transport things across the Pacific.

If you buy local goods whenever possible, you are saving fossil fuel and combating global warming. And you may even be protecting your health.