Thursday, June 28, 2007
Give Me Your Poor, Your Tired, and Sick and Let's Poison Them
Chinese-made toothpaste tainted with a potentially poisonous chemical was distributed to more places in the United States than initially thought, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
About 900,000 tubes of toothpaste containing diethylene glycol, an ingredient in antifreeze, were distributed to hospitals for the mentally ill, prisons, juvenile detention centers and some hospitals serving the general population, the Times said.
Officials in Georgia and North Carolina were replacing the toothpaste with products made outside China, according to the report. Hospitals in South Carolina and Florida also reported receiving Chinese-made toothpaste, it said.
My wife was in the hospital the last two months of her pregnancy in North Carolina. It's a good thing we bought all her toiletries since none of the articles in the news dump mention which hospitals were distributing this choice consumer product.
If this toothpaste wasn't given out to the poor via discount stores, the marginalized via juvenile detention facilities, prisons, and mental hospitals there likely would be a wee bit more notice. Perhaps since some general hospitals may have poisoned their patients too, it can be a sign that we should start caring. The hospitals probably billed the toothpaste to insurance companies at more than the cost of a premium brand if history is any indication. Let's get John Stossel on the case.
Even though they don't matter, and can therefore be treated worse than a family pet, perhaps the people at mental hospitals, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities need an advocate in congress to investigate further. We spend not an insignificant sum of money on these ungrateful bastards. In our society, it means somebody is making a hefty profit on selling this engine coolant flavored consumer product. Is toothpaste that is not only refreshing, but keeps you cool in summer, the only way we can streamline costs on the user end?
Imagine a shipment of toxic mold infected $200 a jar hand cream was distributed to the fancy boutiques in the Los Angeles area. Hundreds of wealthy socialites could be poisoned. What kind of coverage would we be seeing?
Hundreds of thousands of Americans who expect the FDA to to protect them have been ignored because they have no advocates. 900,000 tubes of poison were distributed to people in this country. It might warrant more coverage than Brittney Spears' hoo-ha. One month ago, the FDA Commissioner was asked if we could trust the food items we are receiving from China. Here was his response.
When asked Thursday if consumers could trust the safety of food imported from China, von Eschenbach told The AP: “This is one area where we have an ongoing opportunity for continuous improvement and that’s what we are going to pursue.”
Back in the 1980's, there was a minor scandal of toxic cheese that killed 62 people in the Los Angeles area. If you don't remember hearing about it, you are not alone. A manufacturer of a mexican style cheese didn't pasteurize their milk, and the cheese was infected with Listeria monocytogenes. The local media downplayed the story, because it wasn't really that important. Lives were lost as a result of people eating the cheese after the source of infection was known due to people not being informed of the danger.
There was a typical media wankathon period where they said never again. We won't allow poor people to die ignored, just because they aren't the demographic our advertisers are trying to reach.
Bullshit.
900,000 tubes of toothpaste contaminated with engine coolant have now been found. See how much coverage this gets. The mentally ill demographic doesn't buy the right beer. They certainly aren't buying hand cream.
Fuck em.
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