Sensitive infared cameras discovered bound for China at LAX

Dangerous and counterfeit products, hacking government systems and espionage all have one thing in common, they are likely to originate from China.

The latest example of this is being reported by the AP:

Two men attempting to board a plane to China with nearly a dozen sensitive infrared cameras in their luggage were arrested on Saturday, a federal official said.

Federal agents stopped the pair on the jetway as they were preparing to board the flight to Beijing.

The men had been in the United States for about a week, said Rick Weir, assistant special agent in charge of the Los Angeles office of the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security.

Yong Guo Zhi, a Chinese national, and Tah Wei Chao, a naturalized U.S. citizen, were arrested for investigation of trying to take thermal imaging cameras with potential military use to China without the proper export licenses, Weir said.

In February of this year, the FBI highlighted two high profile cases involving Chinese espionage.

Again, whether it involves defective goods, hacking or stealing military secrets -- the Chinese seem to be having a field day victimizing the citizens of the United States and the World.

Is the cheap labor they provide for a lot companies worth all the risks we are taking by allowing them "free trade status?"

Additional examples of Chinese espionage, hacking and defective products written about on this blog can be seen, here.

Full AP story on this latest development in the ongoing saga, here.

Consumers Union launches a holiday campaign against unsafe products!

Some might say that the global economy has ushered in an era of corporate irresponsibility. Daily, we discover that certain corporations are distributing goods that pose a clear and present danger to our safety.

Many of us are also wondering if certain politicans have let us down on this matter.

After all, how could only 15 inspectors be assigned to oversee 200 million containers of goods being shipped into the country every year?

Consumers Union, who is the non profit right arm of Consumer Reports has launched a major campaign to let Congress know the public is sick and tired of corporate irresponsibility in the global economy.

With Black Friday and holiday season upon us, they are focusing on dangerous products being passed on to our children with a campaign called, "Not in my cart."

You can see that this campaign is all about in a parody about this matter. To view the parody, click on the picture below:



Also included in the video is information, where to let Congress know how you feel about this!

To sum up what the parody is about, Consumers Union writes:

We hope you enjoyed our parody, but the truth is that our system for keeping food and products safe is in serious need of repair.

This year, more than 25 million toys have been recalled, many for dangerous lead paint.

80% of toys are made in China.

The agency responsible for the safety of more than 15,000 products has only 15 inspectors at ports nationwide.

The FDA inspects only about 1% of imported food.

Despite the severely underfunded staff of FDA Inspectors, Consumers Union has made it a little easier to keep track of all the recalls, here.

The sheer number of them is enough to scare just about anyone!

The new red menace, global commerce from China

You would think that we would have learned by now that products from China can be DANGEROUS for a variety of reasons.

Most recently -- our pets were poisoned and millions of dollars of products were pulled off shelves -- after it was discovered that pet food imported from China contained poisonous substances.

Washington Post article on this, here.

The FDA is NOW warning that they are putting antifreeze in oral hygiene products.

I guess poisioning our pets wasn't enough?

From the FDA alert:

FDA has identified the following brands of toothpaste from China that contain DEG and are included in the import alert: Cooldent Fluoride; Cooldent Spearmint; Cooldent ICE; Dr. Cool, Everfresh Toothpaste; Superdent Toothpaste; Clean Rite Toothpaste; Oralmax Extreme; Oral Bright Fresh Spearmint Flavor; Bright Max Peppermint Flavor; ShiR Fresh Mint Fluoride Paste; DentaPro; DentaKleen; and DentaKleen Junior. Manufacturers of these products are: Goldcredit International Enterprises Limited; Goldcredit International Trading Company Limited; and Suzhou City Jinmao Daily Chemicals Company Limited. The products typically are sold at low-cost, “bargain” retail outlets.

In case, you have used any of these products, the FDA recommends that you advise them in this manner:

Consumers can report adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of these products to FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program:www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm

(800) 332-1088

FDA news release concerning this, here.

My question is, given all this, maybe we should ban all commerce from China! The cheap prices aren't worth it. Perhaps, a little consumer mistrust, along with goverment sanctions might rectify this situation?

Other problems caused by free trade with China are counterfeit goods (including medicine), rogue websites (Internet fraud) and their army of hackers stealing everything from money to industrial and military secrets.

If you would like to read about other issues, I've written about, which are caused by "free commerce" with China, link here.