I have not been interested in ingesting anything from China for years and am suspicious of paints on things [possibly lead] and other quality control issues related to human health.
I buy Sanitarium peanut butter because I trust Sanitarium sanitarium.co.nz to control aflatoxins which cause liver cancer. I was surprised to find Santiarium's peanut butter is Made in China. I hadn't been checking the label, just judging by "Sanitarium" and bypassing other brands.
I would be surprised if aflatoxins are controlled in China unless required by the company they supply, and I wouldn't trust China's manufacturers even if they claimed to control it and had pieces of paper to prove it.
My point about ethylene glycol was not so much that it's okay, as that it isn't particularly lethal in little amounts. In toothpaste, I don't think there's a problem. I would not worry at all about brushing my teeth with toothpaste with some ethylene glycol in it. I would not choose it or buy it, but if I found myself having inadvertently used it, I wouldn't worry at all. I worry more about my Made in China peanut butter and will cease and desist buying until I get some details.
China isn't the only country I avoid for various products. Anything in which random chemicals can easily be put are off my shopping list for many countries. I don't worry about Japan much, or Switzerland, or USA [which is more of a nutrient-depleted place rather than toxins-included].
The great thing about the USA is that people can be sued for their back teeth and companies like to keep things law-suit free. I used to warn BP Oil about that in the 1980s when they'd bought Sohio and effectively become an American oil company. The British culture treats laws as approximations to what to do. The USA slams people in prison and confiscates $billions if necessary.
My point was that a monstrous class action suit on lead in petrol [gasoline], benzene [causes myeloid leukaemia], volatility [causes fires and deaths by burning alive], carcinogens from diesel exhaust and other issues could bankrupt BP. I am surprised there never was a class action suit on lead - I suppose nobody really understood the value of the damage to people that was done neurologically from lead in petrol, paint and other places [soldering on cans for example]. There should have been.
Cigarettes are a voluntary death and anyone who smokes knows that it's bad for them [the death rattle cough they suffer and the taste is sufficient warning]. If they don't know just from using it, then they are so insensitive to their own survival, then the gene pool is better cleared of them anyway. Nature takes care of all such things. Mercilessly, relentlessly.
I think Chinese individuals are corrupt, not just the government. That's because the value of people is so low that they have little to lose. Japan has a strong nationalistic identity [one for all and all for one]. Britain and "Christian" countries have a "brotherhood of man" ideology [limited of course, but it's there]. China and many countries have an ideology "Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost" with the bosses making sure they are very comfortable and hang onto power at all costs [costs to other people preferably].
I'm sure you know that toxicity of things fits in a huge range. Micro amounts of polonium 210 are lethal. Dying from salt intake is difficult. Too much cod liver oil is bad too. Booze can kill if the ethanol level is high enough. Ethylene glycol is not on the list "Omigod, don't get that on your skin". It's more, "Keep away from children and pets". Polonium 210 is "Keep it away from everyone". Humanized H5N1 is even worse than polonium 210 because it makes more of itself and spreads virally.
Everywhere uses "antifreeze" these days, because it's not so much "antifreeze" as coolant system heat capacity, anti-boil, anti-freeze, anti-corrosion, and vehicles die without it. Coolants are viciously complex things. I remember when I first got involved with formulations of them. It was a nightmare. Engine oil was a doddle by comparison.
Mqurice |
