The NY Times blows the cover off an astounding story of global poisonings from contaminated medicines from China. It's believed to be responsible for thousands, if not tens of thousands of deaths - most of them children, and most of them in undeveloped countries.
I find it stunning that a major media outlet can uncover a story of this magnitude and it seems as if countries are oblivious or powerless to stop this.
Forty-six barrels of the toxic syrup arrived via a poison pipeline stretching halfway around the world. Through shipping records and interviews with government officials, The New York Times traced this pipeline from the Panamanian port of Colón, back through trading companies in Barcelona, Spain, and Beijing, to its beginning near the Yangtze Delta in a place local people call “chemical country.” The counterfeit glycerin passed through three trading companies on three continents, yet not one of them tested the syrup to confirm what was on the label. Along the way, a certificate falsely attesting to the purity of the shipment was repeatedly altered, eliminating the name of the manufacturer and previous owner. As a result, traders bought the syrup without knowing where it came from, or who made it. With this information, the traders might have discovered — as The Times did — that the manufacturer was not certified to make pharmaceutical ingredients.
I think I'll be stearing clear of Nyquil from now on. |
