At War With China

[sixdogsmom]

I am really more than a little surprised that people are not up in arms about the stuff that China is sending into our country for consumption by our people. A couple of years ago, there was a large loss in our pet population because of contaminated food, and now we find that cadmium laced jewelery is being sold for use by our children and women. Cadmium is extremely dangerous, causing damage to all internal organs and weakening bones. This is all in the name of profit folks! And that profit is not just on the Chinese trading end, but the importers certainly share in the guilt. When are we going to have safe products to purchase? Walmart could stand up and put a stop to this, I suspect they are one of Chinas' largest trading partners. How about it folks? Are we going to demand some responsibility from our retailers?

[Sarah]

I would love to see something that isn't "Made in (insert country here)".   I'm going to have to go look up that jewelry thing.  Just the other day we went to Towne West and were amazed how many stores that were being run by Hindus.  Got a couple pieces of jewelry from there.  I don't usually buy the costume jewelry, but I know very little of it is made here.

[srkruzich]

. When are we going to have safe products to purchase? Walmart could stand up and put a stop to this, I suspect they are one of Chinas' largest trading partners. How about it folks? Are we going to demand some responsibility from our retailers?

Well thats up to you and everyone else.  Everyone already has the power to stop it.  It's simple.  Let your dollar be your voice. IF walmart doesn't make money on said product, it won't sell said product.

[sixdogsmom]

Of course I am not knowingly buying contaminated products! Duh! Do we just stop shopping altogether? Stop purchasing all imports? Throw your computer in the garbage Steve, it's mostly imported. I would not doubt that much of our medicine is imported also. We already know that much of our food is imported, or made from imported products. There is a large number of people sick in Japan frrom eating rice grown with cadmium laced water. Is any of our food produced in that manner? How would we know?

[sixdogsmom]

This from Wiki---------

Cadmium has no constructive purpose in the human body. Cadmium and its compounds are extremely toxic even in low concentrations, and will bioaccumulate in organisms and ecosystems.









  Sources of exposure
In the 1950s and 1960s industrial exposure to cadmium was high, but as the toxic effects of cadmium became apparent, industrial limits on cadmium exposure have been reduced in most industrialized nations and many policy makers agree on the need to reduce exposure further. While working with cadmium it is important to do so under a fume hood to protect against dangerous fumes. Silver solder, for example, which contains cadmium, should be handled with care. Serious toxicity problems have resulted from long-term exposure to cadmium plating baths.

Buildup of cadmium levels in the water, air, and soil has been occurring particularly in industrial areas. Environmental exposure to cadmium has been particularly problematic in Japan where many people have consumed rice that was grown in cadmium contaminated irrigation water. This phenomenon is known under the name itai-itai disease.[1]

Food is another source of cadmium. Plants may only contain small or moderate amounts in non-industrial areas, but high levels may be found in the liver and kidneys of adult animals.

Cigarettes are also a significant source of cadmium exposure. Although there is generally less cadmium in tobacco than in food, the lungs absorb cadmium more efficiently than the stomach.[1]

Aside from tobacco smokers, people who live near hazardous waste sites or factories that release cadmium into the air have the potential for exposure to cadmium in air. However, numerous state and federal regulations in the United States control the amount of cadmium that can be released to the air from waste sites and incinerators so that properly regulated sites are not hazardous. The general population and people living near hazardous waste sites may be exposed to cadmium in contaminated food, dust, or water from unregulated releases or accidental releases. Numerous regulations and use of pollution controls are enforced to prevent such releases.

Workers can be exposed to cadmium in air from the smelting and refining of metals, or from the air in plants that make cadmium products such as batteries, coatings, or plastics. Workers can also be exposed when soldering or welding metal that contains cadmium. Approximately 512,000 workers in the United States are in environments each year where a cadmium exposure may occur. Regulations that set permissible levels of exposure, however, are enforced to protect workers and to make sure that levels of cadmium in the air are considerably below levels thought to result in harmful effects.

Some sources of phosphate in fertilizers contain Cadmium in amounts of up to 100 mg/kg[2][3], which can lead to an increase in the concentration of Cadmium in soil (for example in New Zealand)[4]. Nickel-cadmium batteries are one of the most popular and most common cadmium-based products, and this soil can be mined for use in them.

An experiment during the early 1960s involving the spraying of Cadmium over Norwich has recently been declassified by the UK government, as documented in a BBC News article[5].

[edit] Clinical effects
Acute exposure to cadmium fumes may cause flu like symptoms including chills, fever, and muscle ache sometimes referred to as "the cadmium blues." Symptoms may resolve after a week if there is no respiratory damage. More severe exposures can cause tracheo-bronchitis, pneumonitis, and pulmonary edema. Symptoms of inflammation may start hours after the exposure and include cough, dryness and irritation of the nose and throat, headache, dizziness, weakness, fever, chills, and chest pain.

Inhaling cadmium-laden dust quickly leads to respiratory tract and kidney problems which can be fatal (often from renal failure). Ingestion of any significant amount of cadmium causes immediate poisoning and damage to the liver and the kidneys. Compounds containing cadmium are also carcinogenic.

The bones become soft (osteomalacia), lose bone mineral density (osteoporosis) and become weaker. This causes the pain in the joints and the back, and also increases the risk of fractures. In extreme cases of cadmium poisoning, mere body weight causes a fracture.

The kidneys lose their function to remove acids from the blood in proximal renal tubular dysfunction. The kidney damage inflicted by cadmium poisoning is irreversible and does not heal over time. The proximal renal tubular dysfunction creates low phosphate levels in the blood (hypophosphatemia), causing muscle weakness and sometimes coma. The dysfunction also causes gout, a form of arthritis due to the accumulation of uric acid crystals in the joints because of high acidity of the blood (hyperuricemia). Another side effect is increased levels of chloride in the blood (hyperchloremia). The kidneys can also shrink up to 30%.

Other patients lose their sense of smell (anosmia).

[edit] See also

[srkruzich]

Of course I am not knowingly buying contaminated products! Duh! Do we just stop shopping altogether? Stop purchasing all imports?
YES!
IF you stopped buying it, walmart and all the other stores would stop carrying it and seek out a different supplier.

Throw your computer in the garbage Steve, it's mostly imported.

Got news for you, United states hasn't been in the electronics industry since the 70's.  Not like its going to affect our economy now is it.  
 Tv's were the first to go.  You see, japan is a much better producer of electronic components.  I don't know why but they are.  But computers are a special item in that your computer is obsolete 6 months before you buy it.  The average computer has a lifespan of 2 years.  So cost is a factor. But in computers i vote with my dollar too.  I will buy a maxtor, or a samsung before i'll buy a seagate, or western digital drive.  I'll buy an asus motherboard long before i'll buy a biostar.  The asus is probably 15% higher than the biostar and much better quality.

I would not doubt that much of our medicine is imported also.

I WISH it was imported!  If i had the option to buy my meds from lets say mexico, i could afford my meds.