Millions of fake pills from China, some with no active ingredients and others with the wrong contents, have been uncovered and confiscated by customs officers in France.
In the latest episode of faulty, fraudulent or faked Chinese products, the officers say they nabbed 2.4 million fake pills that were hidden in boxes marked “Chinese tea,” Reuters reported.
Authorities described the 13-ton seizure as the most significant ever in France and the European Union.
It’s part of a story WND has reported for years.
In the U.S., one recent recall of a faulty Chinese product was for a surge protector that started fires, including one that caused $916,000 damage to one home. There also have been carcinogen-laced foods for adults, dangerous toys for children and even contaminated treats and food for pets. WND reported a Chinese pipeline was supplying falsified driver’s licenses and IDs to Americans.
Fake electronics have been found in thermal weapons sights delivered to the U.S. Army, computer chips were found to have been recycled, toy castles had parts that could choke children, kids’ jewelry was poisoned, air pumps exploded and oil-filled heaters caused fires. Also, food products have been tainted with pesticides, carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs. China was found to be raising many fish products intended for the U.S. in water contaminated with raw sewage and then compensating by using dangerous drugs and chemicals, many of which are banned by the Food and Drug Administration.
The fake Chinese pills seized in France were labeled for various treatments, including erectile-dysfunction.
Authorities said some of the products contained no active chemical ingredients, and others were holding doses that did not match their packaging.
Anyone who had been sold the pills could have developed a variety of health complications, authorities said.
The delivery of Chinese products that are not what they claim to be to America has prompted a number of comments recently. WND columnist Phyllis Schlafly wrote specifically about pharmaceuticals.
“Drug research in China has fallen under a cloud since 2006 because 13 of the top 20 global drug makers have set up research and development centers in China. Yes, it’s cheaper to do research there, but, as one auditor said, ‘with cheaper research comes greater risk,'” she wrote.
Chinese researchers, she said, “did not report the results of animal studies about a drug already being tested in humans, a breach described by drug researchers as a ‘mortal sin.'”
“Auditors also reported that Chinese workers did not properly monitor clinical trials and that they paid hospitals in ways that could be seen as bribery.”
She explained that among the many tainted products has been baby milk containing melamine and alcohol made from ethylene glycol (antifreeze), which “attacks the kidneys and heart and is potentially fatal,” and methanol, or isopropyl, which is a rubbing alcohol.
Columnist Chuck Norris wrote about a case that linked consumption of jerky pet treats from China to the deaths of hundreds of pets.
The Food and Drug Administration, he noted, had not issued a product recall, because it hasn’t been able to pinpoint the exact problem or label associated with the pet illnesses and deaths.”
“The best the FDA can offer at this point is: ‘The products – also called chicken tenders, strips, or treats – are imported from China.'”
Roger Simmermaker warned that the federal government had decided that China’s “quality and safety standards for processing chicken are suddenly so acceptable that they’ve given the green light to four Chinese processing plants to import raised and slaughtered U.S. poultry, process it, and then export it back to America for you to consume.”
His warning came about the time a newspaper reported Chinese chicken products for sale 46 years past their expiration date.
Earlier WND reports ‎focused on fake or defective electronic components that could endanger U.S. military operations.
According to investigators, a Senate panel tracked some 1,800 cases of suspected counterfeit parts through the supply chain. It found that U.S. defense contractors had purchased many of the critical components from U.S. companies which, in turn, obtained them from Chinese firms but never subjected them to testing before handing them over to the U.S. military as part of their contract.
The Senate unit, whose investigators were denied access to Chinese firms by Chinese authorities, said the evidence “consistently point(s) to China as the epicenter of the global trade in counterfeits.”
To put the growing problem into perspective, Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said, “We do not want a $12 million missile defense interceptor’s reliability compromised by a $2 counterfeit part.”
The military aircraft that have been affected include the SH-60B, AH-64 and CH-46 helicopters; and the C-17, C-130J, C-27J and P-8A Poseidon airplanes. Investigators said that if the component in the FLIR’s Electromagnetic Interference Filter, or EIF, had failed, then the FLIR itself would fail, and the SH-60B could not conduct surface warfare missions, which included firing its Hellfire missiles.
A FLIR failure also would compromise the pilot’s ability to avoid hazards and identify targets at night, limiting the SH-60B’s night mission capability.
Schlafly wrote several years ago about fake computer chips that were being purchased by the U.S. military for use in U.S. warplanes, ships and communications networks.
She wrote that malfunctions traced to the chips were being reported as early as 2005. Targeted were computers aboard U.S. F-15 fighter jets at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.
Even at that point, officials said at least 15 percent of the spare and replacement chips the Pentagon was buying were counterfeit.
Officials in the National Intelligence Agency and the FBI expressed concern then that the fakes could let the Chinese gain access to secure systems inside the United States.
Schlafly wrote at the time: “The U.S. bought 59,000 counterfeit microchips from China for use in our warships, planes, missile and antimissile systems but fortunately were discovered they are fake in time. How many didn’t we catch?”
One Senate investigator even discovered that electronic components had been harvested from “e-waste” and sometimes were sold on public sidewalks and in public markets in China.
There also are whole factories in China with up to 15,000 people employed for the purpose of counterfeiting products.
WND has not been alone in its reporting. DefenseTech also reported on the danger: “You don’t have to be a genius to see the safety nightmare presented by fake parts on incredibly complex systems like submarines, fighter jets and tiltrotors.”
WND’s reporting on the subject even has drawn the attention of China. The official Chinese news agency Xinhua blamed WND for over-hyping the safety concerns.
The Chinese news outlet cited a story that sparked a wildfire of coverage by other media.
“For example, in May, the conservative news organ WorldNetDaily.com asked, ‘Is China Trying to Poison Americans and Their Pets?'” the Xinhua story states in trying to make the case for racism in the U.S. media.
It was the only example of negative news coverage mentioned.
But WND has led the way in reporting on contaminated or defective consumer products coming out of China.
In a one-month period, 17 of 28 products recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission were Chinese imports.
They included:
- Hammock stands that are unstable and cause those who use them to fall to the ground in alarming numbers: About 3,000 imported by Algoma Net Co. of Wisconsin and sold at Kohl’s, Target and other retail outlets have been called back. There have been at least 28 reports of brackets cracking or breaking and consumers falling to the ground.
- Toy castles that could choke young children: Some 68,000 Shape Sorting Toy Castles produced by Infantino were recalled after at least four reports of children nearly choking on colored beads that slid off the toy and lodged in their throats.
- Kids jewelry that could poison them: About 20,000 Essentials for Kids Jewelry Sets have been recalled by the CPSC because of toxic levels of lead in the paint – a frequent problem with products from China.
- Magnet toys that could perforate a child’s intestines: About 800 Mag Stix Magnetic Building Sets were recalled by the CPSC, which found the plastic sticks can be swallowed or aspirated. The agency found one 8-year-old girl was hospitalized after swallowing loose magnets. Extensive surgery was required to remove the magnets and repair intestinal perforations.
Other products found to have problems were portable baby swings that entrap youngsters, swimming pool ladders that break, faulty baby carriers that result in babies falling out and getting bruised, Easy-Bake Ovens that trap children’s fingers in openings, resulting in burns, oscillating tower fans whose faulty wiring results in fires, exploding air pumps, oil-filled electric heaters that burn down homes, notebook computer batteries that burn up computers and circular saws with faulty blade guards.
Found to have been contaminated in recent years are Chinese products ranging from pet food to seafood intended for humans.
A WND study showed the Food and Drug Administration found products intended for human consumption tainted with pesticides, carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs.
Also, the deadly contaminant found in Chinese-made toothpaste – diethylene glycol – is a solvent used in antifreeze that killed 107 Americans when it was introduced in an elixir 70 years ago.
A resurgence in lead-poisoning cases in U.S. children was linked to Chinese imports – toys, makeup, glazed pottery and other products that contain significant amounts of lead and are being recalled by the CPSC on a regular basis.
Imports from China were recalled by the CPSC twice as often as products made everywhere else in the world, including the U.S., showed a WND study of 2007 government reports.
WND reported China was shipping to the U.S. honey tainted with a potentially life-threatening antibiotic as well as adulterating exports with sugar.
