Krishna Guha, writing in the Financial Times, summarizes the latest developments in China’s attempts to deal with its food and drug safety issues, including the military doing spot checks on its own suppliers. Guha’s story leads with Thursday’s call by U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez for Beijing to step up its oversight of Chinese product and food exports to the U.S. After at least a couple of scares, this is bubbling up as an issue with American consumers. Surprisingly, Congress hasn’t latched on it yet, but such is the readiness of some in Congress to bash China, it is surely only a matter of time.
Update: The FT reports that China has banned use in toothpaste of a potentially toxic industrial chemical. Toothpaste made in China will no longer be allowed to contain diethylene glycol, a thickening agent often used in antifreeze.
