China is the leading exporter of seafood to the U.S. and in late June, the FDA finally issued an import alert and banned five species of seafood. China lacks any effective food standards, and most of its seafood species are raised in raw sewage that is treated with drugs and chemicals, many banned by the FDA. China tops the list of food imports being refused, but more needs to be done. In 2006, only 0.88% of China's seafood coming into the U.S. was inspected. Some toothpaste from China has now been found to contain diethylene glycol, an industrial solvent used in paint and antifreeze. Just a couple of months ago thousands of pets died from contaminated pet food from China. In addition, many American and Canadian companies are using Chinese ingredients in their products, which could pose a health risk. There is currently no safety standards between the U.S. and China on food and drugs, as well as other imports. To put this crisis in better perspective, nearly a fifth of China's own food and consumer products were found to be substandard or tainted. This should serve as a wake-up call to the FDA as their current mechanisms in place are not effective and reliable enough to properly test and track foods being imported. Instead of preventing, the FDA is only reacting to this ever growing crisis.



