BIOLOGICAL WAR-FEAR
Seafood imports from China raised in untreated sewage
Fish products consumed by Americans treated with dangerous drugs, chemicals
Posted: June 4, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joseph Farah
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – China, the leading exporter of seafood to the U.S., is raising most of its fish products in water contaminated with raw sewage and compensating by using dangerous drugs and chemicals, many of which are banned by the Food and Drug Administration.
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The stunning news follows WND's report last week that FDA inspectors report tainted food imports from China are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs.
China has consistently topped the list of countries whose products were refused by the FDA – and that list includes many countries, including Mexico and Canada, who export far more food products to the U.S. than China.
While less than half of Asia has access to sewage treatment plants, aquaculture – the raising of seafood products – has become big business on the continent, especially in China.
In China, No. 1 in aquaculture in the world, 3.7 billion tons of sewage is discharged into rivers, lakes and coastal water – some of which are used by the industry. Only 45 percent of China has any sewage-treatment facilities, putting the country behind the rest of Asia.
According to a new report by Food & Water Watch, the aquaculture industry crams fish and shellfish into facilities to maximize production, generating large amounts of waste, contaminating water and spreading disease if left untreated. The industry tries to control the spread of bacterial infections, disease and parasites by pumping the food supplies with antibiotics and the waters with fungicides and pesticides.
Many of the products used are banned in the U.S. Traces of these drugs have been showing up increasingly in imports – especially from China.
"In addition to potentially making people sick, overuse of such drugs is contributing to antibiotic resistance, a growing public health concern in a variety of foods," says Food & Water Watch in its report "Import Alert: Government Fails Consumers, Falls Short on Seafood Inspections."
But the grave news on China's seafood exports is worsened by the FDA's inability to inspect imports. The percentage of important seafood shipments with samples taken for laboratory inspection has decreased over the past four years, from 0.88 percent in 2003 to 0.59 percent in 2006 – this while seafood consumption in the U.S. was rising and more of that seafood was coming from China.
China became the leading exporter of seafood to the U.S. in 2004 – and amounts are rising fast. Chinese imports were up 14 percent in 2005 and 23 percent in 2006. This year, so far, they are up 34 percent over 2006.
"China's imports of aquaculture products are increasing despite the country's history of violations for veterinary drug residues," says Food & Water Watch. "Between 2003 and 2006, 35 percent of all refusals for veterinary drug residues were found on shipments from China. In 2006, 62.4 percent of all refusals for veterinary drug residues came from there."
Every year, one in four Americans is afflicted with a food-borne illness, with seafood being responsible for about 18 percent of 20 percent of those cases – or 15.2 million.
"The Food and Drug Administration can't find what it's not looking for," says Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter. "FDA's appalling record on inspecting seafood imports is irresponsible and poses a real threat to both the health of the American public and to homeland security."
Meanwhile, as the heat on China's export policies increases, Beijing is adamant that it is doing nothing wrong, and brands warnings issued by U.S. officials irresponsible – as in the case the latest scare over toothpaste contaminated with diethylene glycol.
"So far we have not received any report of death resulting from using the toothpaste," fumed China's General Administration of Quality Supervision. "The U.S. handling (of this case) is neither scientific nor responsible."
The FDA issued a warning Friday after toothpaste containing DEG was detected in a shipment seized at the border. The government says at least 100 people died after taking cough syrup containing DEG, an industrial solvent used in paint and antifreeze.
China's dismal drug-safety record was underscored this week by a Chinese court's decision to sentence to death the country's former top drug regulator.
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Crossfire War - Tehran - Damascus Plan Pre-Emptive Strike Against Israel-US
By Willard Payne
Crossfire War - TEHRAN WATCH - West Asia Theatre: Tehran - Beirut - Damascus/Jerusalem - Washington - Rome; Iran - Syria Prepare Pre-Emptive Strike against Israel - US Forces in Region - UNIFIL in Crossfire
Night Watch: DAMASCUS - Debka reports that Tehran and Damascus are preparing a pre-emptive strike against Israel and U. S. forces in the region to prevent a U. S. attack against Iran's nuclear weapons program. This is basically what Tehran has been saying for the past two years when, after Saddam Hussein's removal, U.S. President George W. Bush started mentioning a year later, when asked about the threat of Iran's nuclear program, that attacking Iran was an "option on the table." Iran's Defense Ministry stated shortly afterward they would not let the U.S. attack first. [DEBKA]The Iran-Syria attack plan is bascially the result of the military measures Tehran-Damascus have been making for the past two years, when then Iran President Mohammad Khatami made his four nation tour, circumventing Egypt, and when visiting Damascus he praised Syria and stated that what Iran-Syria should do is form a military axis to oppose Israel-U.S. and remove what he called "pressures". The Iran-Syria Axis was made official in June when the security agreement was signed in Tehran and Iran's Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar declared that Syria's security was Iran's security. The first wave of fighting started the following month.
Debka states that in order to prepare Islamic governments and people for the next wave of war Syria President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview for the Kuwait paper al-Anbar and stated, as justification, that Israel was planning an attack on Syria. But in reality, since the first Israel - Hezbollah war, President Assad has been like a man possessed, what he feels is the grip of the hand of destiny, his sense of mission, that the time is right for Syria to retake the Golan. He said so publicly right after the ceasefire in August. Assad actually believes Hezbollah had achieved a great victory and therefore Syrian commandos will have an easy time re-capturing the Golan,which they lost in 1967.
Tehran is not so possessed, especially since they know the Jihad's priorities are economic and there is no market for salt in the Dead Sea. But they realize war with Israel is popular, which increases Islamic radicalism, and the next wave of war will also be used to attack U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf, increase the pressure on U.S. occupying units in Iraq and perhaps Washington will be obliged to do something to help Israel militarily. Tehran will then have the U.S. heavily engaged in war on three fronts plus Afghanistan. A fifth front if Tehran and Belgrade activate their security agreement and start the war in the Balkans again over the Kosovo issue.
Both Tehran-Damascus seem to believe that Israel has been seriously weakened by its first war with Hezbollah and next time even more so, perhaps even defeated, when Jerusalem is faced with not only a re-armed Hezbollah but also heavy fighting with Syria. But Israel will not be so restrained next time. That seems to have been the main criticism within Israel over the results of the first phase. Israel has a lot more in its arsenal than it used in southern Lebanon and if need be Jerusalem will use its nuclear weaponry. Tehran of course has prepared millions of people, in and out of Iran, to embrace martyrdom.
As well connnected as Tehran is, they know what is said in any conversation between Iraq and the U. S., and they know Washington is tiring of Iraq. Friday Senator John Warner, the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, gave the administration of Iraq Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki 60 to 90 days to control the violence in the country, at least in the capital. That actually amounts to an ultimatum, or the U.S. will reconsider its options, in other words wash their hands of the situation and set a specific timetable for withdrawal. The Pentagon may have realized all along it is impossible to solve the crisis over Iran's nuclear weapons program diplomatically and the worst has to be faced, but Iran does not want to wait to engage the Pentagon after it has redeployed its forces in position to attack Iran. An attack now would hit U.S. forces long before the Pentagon "attack Iran option" is ready.
In the meantime the European units in UNIFIL will be caught in the crossfire. Tehran recently had al-Qaeda declare them to be an enemy of Islam.
Night Watch Information Service
http://www.crossfirewar.com
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