Tainted Pig Organs Sicken 70 in China <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/world/asia/24pigs.html?_r=1>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/world/asia/24pigs.html?_r=1 By <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/michael_wines/index.html?inline=nyt-per>MICHAEL WINES Published: February 23, 2009 BEIJING Seventy residents of southern <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/china/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>China have been sickened after eating pig organs contaminated by a banned steroid, state media reported Monday, in the latest in a series of lapses that have stirred international concern about China’s control over <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/food_safety/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>food safety. The steroid, clenbuterol, is a performance-enhancing drug that has figured in some baseball and Olympic doping scandals. It is banned in China and most other nations as an additive to animal feed, but is sometimes used illegally used to produce animals with more and leaner meat. The victims, all from Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, ate meat from pigs raised in nearby Hunan Province, in southeastern China, Wang Guobin, an official of the Guangzhou public health bureau, told the state-controlled newspaper China Daily. Three remained in a local hospital on Monday. The others, many of whom complained of fever and irregular heartbeats, were treated and released, Mr. Wang said. Baiyun People’s Hospital reported 15 cases on Thursday, including a family of four that had eaten pasta with pork liver for lunch. China Daily quoted the authorities as saying that they had detained three people involved in raising and selling the pigs. The Beijing-based newspaper Legal Daily reported on Monday that 140 contaminated pigs had been delivered to a Guangzhou livestock market on Tuesday, accompanied by a falsified quarantine certificate. “It was night, and the duty person might not have noticed that it was a fake certificate,” the newspaper quoted the market manager as saying. The first sicknesses were reported the following day. Clenbuterol’s principal legal use is to treat asthma in horses, and, in some nations, in humans. The drug increases muscle in humans and animals alike by reducing the rate at which muscle cells lose protein. It burns fat by inducing fever. But it has many side effects even at low doses, including irregular heart rates, tremors and nausea. Food safety has long been a problem in China, where a combination of widespread corruption and fierce competition for sales has led businesses to take dangerous shortcuts in producing an array of products. In 2007, dozens of dogs and cats in the United States, South Africa and elsewhere died and thousands more were sickened after some brands of kibble were adulterated with a deadly chemical that mimicked protein in laboratory tests. The chemical, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/m/melamine/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>melamine, had been added to a kibble ingredient, wheat gluten, that was manufactured in China. The government announced a crackdown on melamine-tainted foods then. But late last year, melamine was discovered in Chinese infant formula and other dairy products that sickened 300,000 children and killed six. The chemical apparently had been added to make the dairy goods appear more nutritious in tests. That scandal bankrupted Sanlu, one of China’s largest dairy companies and led a court to impose death sentences on two men found to be involved in the fraud. Several Sanlu executives also received long prison sentences. Clenbuterol also has a history in China’s food-production chain. More than 300 Shanghai residents were sickened in 2006 after eating pork and pig organs laced with the drug. Perhaps coincidentally, the Chinese Internet portal Netease.com announced this weekend that it plans to raise up 10,000 pigs on webcam-equipped organic farms in Zhejiang Province, allowing viewers to monitor their “pastoral” care and feeding. The company said it was jumping into pig farming because the Internet offered an ideal way to reassure Chinese consumers unnerved by recent food-safety scandals. China is the world’s largest consumer of pork. <*}}}>< <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/on+allposters+today.html>on AllPosters today <*}}}><<*}}}>< <http://astore.amazon.com/halthekin-20>Catholic on Amazon <*}}}>< + <*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Holy Postage <*}}}>< <*}}}><<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Kingdom!<*}}}>< + "The fruit of abortion is nuclear war" - Bl. Mother Teresa + <*}}}>< <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/on+allposters+today.html>on AllPosters today <*}}}><<*}}}>< <http://astore.amazon.com/halthekin-20>Catholic on Amazon <*}}}>< + <*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Holy Postage <*}}}>< <*}}}><<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Kingdom!<*}}}>< + "The fruit of abortion is nuclear war" - Bl. Mother Teresa + --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Please note that I do not send or open attachments sent to this list. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Catholics on Fire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Catholics-on-Fire May the blessing of Jesus and our Blessed Mother be with you -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
