The Chinese never learnt the valuable lessons of ensuring the safety and quality of their products to be globally competitive, as once again their manufacturing industry is under fire. The Chinese product in question is milk and dairy products, which was discovered to contain harmful ingredients.
News reports revealed that many infants went ill after ingesting some Chinese manufactured baby formula. It was also reported that 69 out of 100 plus of their milk brands contain melamine, a chemical that is used in plastics. The Chinese government started an investigation regarding the issue and other nations like USA followed suit.
This issue with the Chinese milk products is the most recent of the flurry of controversies that placed the Chinese manufacturing industry in the bad light. Another issue that gave a strong jab against their industry is the discovery that some Chinese made toys were painted with lead containing paint.
The Philippine local market is filled with Chinese made products that is smuggled in the country. Moreover, as Christmas is a few months away, it can be expected that more of their products, from toys to foodstuffs to medicines and food supplements will enter our country through illegal ways. More often than not, smuggled goods were cheaper than the ones that were imported through legal channels. Aside from this fact is that smuggled goods were usually being sold in markets and is being bought by the poor. As result, many Filipinos were exposed to such goods that might be harmful and/or contains harmful chemicals.
The news regarding the Chinese manufactured milk products made the public aware of the harm that they might sustain if they bought such products. The government must take a step further by conducting a serious crackdown on smuggling syndicates. To protect the Filipino consumers from the possible health risks, the President must order the police to start confiscating smuggled goods in public markets, in malls and in groceries. The Bureau of Customs should be cleaned and all erring customs officers of that government agency be prosecuted and be imprisoned.
But then again, with this administration’s track record, it is possible that the call will fall on deaf ears not unless anyone connected to a famous politician were harmed by such defective and harmful products like what happened to the daughter of Joe de Venecia, which caused a short but serious attack against defective and sub-standard Christmas lights.
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I think we need to separate the issue of smuggling from consumer safety. Even if a product is legitimately import (just like those lead paint- tainted toys), there would still be safety issues. Conversely, a smuggled product can be perfectly safe.
chuck,
I agree with the first sentence,but I have reservations on the last.
You can never tell, unless you try it yourself for a number of years and hope that nothing happens to you.
Who will check the smuggled items,they are supposed to be for destruction upon confiscation??unless we want the BFAD to check on them so customs could auction them instead.
our bfad is already understaffed,under funded and what not.
“lead containing paint.” You left a hyphen out.
Ishmael, the systemic lack of oversight goes beyond just Customs itself.. it goes into so many other industries in The Philippines, BFAD included.
It must start with proper implementation of regulations.. and ufortunately, this general statement encompasses every sector of government.
With that said, it is indeed a concern.. But, unfortunately, China does have a strong hold in the Manufacturing industry, cheap cost, cheap labor.. even with the negative press, they are most always the cheapest source of goods.
In any case, welcome to FV, welcome to the fray, and welcome to the discussions..
Ishmael Ahab,
Let us bear in mind that although a lot of Chinese manufactured goods may be of low quality or downright harmful at the present time, I think we can expect general improvement over time since the Chinese authorities know that “Made in China” is the shiniest global brand at the moment and they must protect it at all costs. We can expect a similar evolution as we’ve seen for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong.
But this is a Golden Dragon that has taken the Capitalist Road, not a White Whale. As they used to say in those old Maoist propaganda films…”In the end, China will prevail!” The Olympics prove that Mao is gone, but China has entered the Building.
The cable talk shows say that capitalism will directly select against substandard products since the market won’t buy it. So I agree with DJB that Chinese products will improve with time.I think this is how capitalist economies evolve. In the late 19th and early 20th century US, there were “patent medicines” that were really unregulated. Not a few people died taking them.
Unlike in the pet food-melamine debacle, the market that got poisoned consists of Chinese themselves. In the pet food issue, it were overpampered first world cats that died. The Chinese responded accordingly. I don’t think someone was shot in the head for the crime.
Now these are the one child policy babies that have been poisoned. Will this really make the Beijing politburo act decisively?
But I’m AGHAST: White Rabbit candy contains melamine!
After Imelda paid her first visit to Mao, White Rabbit candies flooded the elementary schools. I think we downed tons of the stuff. We kids had a time eating the digestable wrapper!
Maybe the melamine was in the wrapper!
to mike,
thank you for noticing about the hypen. I’ll try to proofread my posts more.
to nick,
Yes, I agree with you that the lack or the minimal consumer protection in the Philippines should only be blamed on the Bureau of Customs. It should be blame to the government and the lack of vigilance against hazardous and substandard products and the failure to educate the people regarding the goods that they buy.
to DJB,
Yes, the Chinese government will indeed protect teir products. In the recent Chinese milk issue, their government tried to control the situation and they seem to be eager to save their industry.
The Chinese milk issue will help their government in learning that their costumers are the nations of the world and not their local citizens that can be merely be blinded by propaganda.