Sunday, June 10, 2007

U.S. Doesn't Need Chinese Ingredients or Slave Labor to Make Food Products, Toothpaste or Pet Food: We Can Manufacture All Those Products Here

Why are we exporting OUR food production capability to China, which has a very checkered history of food contamination in recent memory?

We should be growing, producing and making our own foods, pet foods, and toothpaste HERE, regardless of other issues. This is a MAJOR national security problem that needs to be at the top of federal government's priority list. What good is securing our borders if our food supply is compromised and millions of people get sick?

Look at what's happened already.

Thousands of brands of pet foods were contaminated by something in Chinese wheat gluten. As a result, thousands of cats and hundreds of dogs got sick and DIED. Now discount store toothpaste has been contaminated by diethyl glycol (DEG), which is a poison that can cause kidney failure in humans if ingested. The discount store toothpaste was also produced in China.

It's apparent that we should be manufacturing these kinds of products here in the U.S., where our labs have quick and unfettered access to production facilities should a problem arise. China's been stalling on access to it's production facilities for weeks. Our own food production system is not perfect either, but at least our government and companies recall their products if there's a problem. All China's government did was deny the problems, or told the U.S. government that it was overreacting. Hooey!

Control of our food supply should not be internationalized for cost-cutting reasons. Corporations should keep their production facilities here, and not transfer them to China or India--for any reason.

There's a reason that certain pesticides were banned in the U.S.

It's because they were harmful to humans, but nations like China still continue to use them. I think these corporations should get their supplies from U.S. farmers and keep their business here. The food supply will be much safer, and we'll have answers much quicker should a malfunction occur during the manufacture of these products.

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