No. 1: Warning—Made Partly or Wholly in China

The top story for 2007 begins, unfortunately, in 2006, when more than 100 Panamanians died of poisoning caused by diethylene glycol* contained in cough syrup made with tainted Chinese glycerin. Diethylene glycol is a well-known toxic solvent, with a long history of being used as a cheap, counterfeit glycerin. Covering this story for The New York Times, Walt Bogdonovich and company, in dogged praiseworthy pursuit, traced 46 barrels of the imported glycerin stock, labeled as 99.5% pure but containing approximately 24% of the toxin, from a Panamanian port through Spain to the Taixing Glycerine Factory in the Yangtze Delta.

Risks posed by over-the-counter products tainted with diethylene glycol bled into 2007 when the toxin (albeit at a much lower percentage) was discovered in Chinese-made toothpaste; tubes, some of which were marketed for children, were found throughout Latin America, as well as in Canada and the United States.

In March, a series of renal-failure deaths in dogs and cats led to the discovery in pet food of Chinese wheat gluten laced with melamine—a slow-release fertilizer and cheap, ersatz protein. Although the ability of melamine to cause the pet deaths was questioned, the discovery prompted concerns about the safety of animal feed generally and the possible toxicity posed to humans through indirect consumption. The FDA consequently banned the importation of Chinese wheat gluten—which made up 13% of the US import market—and opened a criminal investigation, according to the NYT.

In May, a second suspect molecule, cyanuric acid was discovered in the contaminated pet food, which led veterinary investigators at the University of California, Irvine to examine the toxicity of melamine, cyanuric acid, and the combination in cats. In animals fed either melamine or cyanuric acid separately, kidney function was unaffected. However, cats fed the combination developed acute renal failure, and histopathologic kidney findings were consistent with those published in September in pets previously affected by the contaminated products.

In August, the suicide of the owner of Lee Der Industrial—a longtime Chinese supplier for Mattel—was the culmination of a worldwide recall of Chinese-made toys coated with lead paint. According to the NYT, approximately 80% of the world’s toys are manufactured in China, mostly as a result of contract vending. Another Chinese toy manufacturer was also cited for supplying an Illinois toy company with lead-paint-coated wooden railway sets. Concerns among US consumer advocates resulted in wider testing, which revealed a concerning amount of lead in toys and bibs (no less) made of polyvinyl chloride.

The response from Chinese officials to the series of consumer-product debacles was a conflicting mixture of denial, defense, and affirmation to overhaul China’s food- and product-safety system. Perhaps in a show of general authority and assurance to the world at large, China executed its former head of the state food and drug administration in July, after he was convicted of bribery charges.

Last, from the disturbing to the just plain bizarre, toy beads manufactured in China by JSSY Ltd and marketed as Aqua Dots in North America were recalled after reports of illness, in some cases coma inducing, occurred in 14 children who ate the beads. Evidently the beads contained a cheap glue substitute, 1,4-butanediol, which is metabolized, once ingested, into gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB)—otherwise known as the “date-rape drug.” The manufacturer issued a public apology in November, reporting “that it had not occurred to anyone to check whether [1,4-butanediol] would be dangerous for children to eat,” according to the company’s chairman in the NYT.

* Death caused by diethylene-glycol-contaminated products is direct from The Annals of History Repeating Itself. In 1937, more than 100 US citizens—many children—died after consuming Elixir Sulfanilamide, a raspberry-flavored antibiotic syrup manufactured by the S. E. Massengill Pharmaceutical Company of Bristol, TN. The difficult-to-dissolve antibiotic was ultimately mixed with the toxic solvent by the company’s head chemist, Harold Cole Watkins, who reportedly only tested the elixir for its appearance and palatability. The catastrophic event led to the passage of the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. In the 1990s, episodes of diethylene-glycol poisoning from syrup medications were reported in India and Haiti.