China rejects U.S. warning on toothpaste

By ANITA CHANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

BEIJING -- China rejected a warning issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urging consumers to avoid using Chinese toothpaste because it may contain a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.

Calling the FDA warning "unscientific, irresponsible and contradictory," China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement posted on its Web site late Saturday that low levels of the chemical have been deemed safe for consumption.

The FDA increased its scrutiny of toothpaste made in China because of reports that the products may contain diethylene glycol, a thickening agent used as a low-cost - but frequently deadly - substitute for glycerin, a sweetener commonly used in drugs.

The agency was not aware of any poisoning but found toothpaste with the chemical in a shipment at the U.S. border and at two bargain retail stores, a Dollar Plus in Miami and a Todo A Peso in Puerto Rico.

China's main food safety regulator said in its statement that the ingredients of toothpaste exported to the U.S. is offered to the FDA, showing the amount of diethylene glycol. Also, the toothpaste's labeling has already been registered with the FDA, allowing it to be sold in the U.S, the statement said.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said experts from the Health Ministry had deemed diethylene glycol a "low-level" poison that does not accumulate in the body and found no evidence the substance caused cancer or deformities.

It also said European Union standards allow for a certain amount of the chemical and cited a 2000 Chinese study that found toothpaste containing less than 15.6 percent diethylene glycol was not harmful. The Chinese toothpaste the FDA is concerned about contains between 3 percent to 4 percent of the drug, according to the FDA.

"Therefore the warning issued by the FDA ... is unscientific, irresponsible and contradictory," the agency said.

The agency "requests the U.S. clarify the facts in a scientific manner as soon as possible and properly handle the issue."

The FDA alert Friday said the agency found diethylene glycol, or DEG, in three products manufactured by Goldcredit International Trading in China: Cooldent Fluoride, Cooldent Spearmint and Cooldent ICE.

The agency also found the chemical in one product manufactured by Suzhou City Jinmao Daily Chemical Co. Analysis of that product, Shir Fresh Mint Fluoride Paste, found it contained about 1 percent DEG.

Phones at both companies rang unanswered Sunday.

Companies that make brands previously found with DEG will have to prove the toothpaste is free of the chemical before it's allowed into the U.S., the FDA said. Meanwhile, all other brands of Chinese-made toothpaste will be stopped for testing, something the FDA has been doing since May 23.

A slew of Chinese exports have recently been banned or turned away by U.S. inspectors including, wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine that has been blamed for dog and cat deaths in North America, monkfish that turned out to be toxic pufferfish, drug-laced frozen eel, and juice made with unsafe color additives.

DEG was blamed for the deaths of 51 people in Panama after they took tainted cold medicine. China has admitted it was the source of the deadly chemical but insists it was originally labeled as for industrial use only.

Officials in Panama and several other Latin American countries have removed tens of thousands of tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste from stores amid concerns that they contain DEG.

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China to ban human organ trafficking from May 1

04-07-2007, 14h15

BEIJING (AFP)

China will formally ban the trade in human organs from May 1, state media reported, amid ongoing allegations that the nation's military is involved in harvesting organs from executed prisoners.

The regulation, issued by the State Council, or China's cabinet, does not apply to transplants of human tissue such as cells, corneas or bone marrow, the Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

"This is the first regulation of its kind introduced by the central government, and it is a milestone in the country's organ transplant history," vice health minister Huang Jiefu was quoted as saying.

China in July last year issued rules on the buying and selling of human organs for transplant.

The new regulation "stipulates that human organ transplants should respect the principle of voluntary and free donation and makes it a crime to harvest organs without the owner's permission or against his will," Xinhua said.

The law, which forbids the use of organs from minors, aims to "safeguard citizens' lawful rights" and ensure the quality of transplant surgery, it added.

The regulation sets out strict guidelines for hospitals allowed to perform organ transplants.

Doctors found to be involved in the organ trade will have their licences revoked, face fines and their clinics will be forbidden from performing transplant surgery for at least three years.

Officials convicted of trading in human organs will be sacked and kicked out of government, Xinhua said.

International human rights groups have long accused China of harvesting organs from executed prisoners for transplant without the consent of the prisoner or his or her family.

Hospitals have also been regularly accused of secretly taking organs from road accident victims and other dead patients without telling family members.

The health ministry has denied those charges, saying most organs are voluntarily donated by ordinary citizens and executed criminals who consented to donations before their deaths.

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Head of Joint Chiefs Calls China’s Military Aims Unclear

BEIJING, March 23 — China’s recent test of an antisatellite weapon sent a confusing message to the world about its military intentions, but the United States and China are slowly building stronger military-to-military ties, the top-ranking United States military officer said Friday.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he urged his Chinese counterparts in meetings on Thursday and Friday to provide more information about the aims of their military buildup. He called the meetings “encouraging,” but said he did not get concrete answers.

“I used the example of the antisatellite test as how sometimes the international community can be confused, because it was a surprise that China did that, and it wasn’t clear what their intent was,” General Pace told reporters in Beijing.

In January, China fired a medium-range ballistic missile into space, destroying one of its own aging weather satellites. The test, which China said nothing about for more than a week, raised alarms in Washington that the Chinese military might seek the capacity to cripple the Pentagon’s satellite-dependent communications, missile guidance and navigation systems in the event of a future conflict.

The United States and the Soviet Union also destroyed satellites in space but stopped such tests in the 1980s, partly because the debris left in orbit posed threats to satellites and space vehicles.

China has maintained that it has only peaceful intentions in space and has declined to explain its missile test in any detail.

General Pace, who arrived Thursday for his first visit to China, discussed overall military relations between the two powers with Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and Li Zhaoxing, the foreign minister, among other officials.

China put forward proposals to strengthen communication between the militaries, General Pace said. They included sending Chinese cadets to West Point, as well as participating in joint humanitarian and rescue-at-sea exercises.

General Pace said he agreed to study the proposals. He said the two sides were still discussing setting up a military hot line for communications during an emergency.

“The Chinese military understands as well as I do that the opportunity to pick up the phone and smooth out misunderstandings quickly is a very important part of relations,” General Pace said.

The exchange highlights a modest warming in relations between the militaries, which grew chilly in the early days of the Bush administration. Administration officials, including the defense secretary at the time, Donald H. Rumsfeld, initially said they did not see much value in extending a hand to the secretive Chinese military.

Tensions increased when an American spy plane collided with a Chinese jet fighter over the South China Sea in 2001, killing the Chinese pilot and forcing the American plane to make an emergency landing at a Chinese air base.

Top officers from both countries have picked up the pace of visits in the past two years, but the Pentagon has pressed China, without obvious success, to explain its rapid military buildup. China raised its military spending by nearly 18 percent this year to $45 billion. The Pentagon claims the country’s real military spending is at least twice as much as the budgeted figure.

Chinese officials have expressed unease about America’s weapon sales to Taiwan, an independently governed island that China claims as its sovereign territory. The Pentagon has announced plans to sell more than 400 missiles to Taiwan to counter a large array of Chinese missiles aimed at the island.

General Pace played down concerns that tensions across the Taiwan Strait could lead to war. “I believe that there are good-faith efforts amongst all the leadership to prevent that,” he said.