June 21st, 2012
From cancer-causing salt to formaldehyde-doused cabbage, a look at China's food-safety mess

A new story from Chinese magazine Caixin highlights the extent of China’s food-safety problems:

In the past five years, the number of public food and drug safety scandals has hit new highs. In 2008, there was the tainted milk scandal. Then, this year’s poisoned medicine capsule case and contaminated cooking oil scandal signaled that there continue to be severe barriers to the adequate protection of public health.

With scandals now regularly uncovered in nearly every sector of food production, the industry as a whole appears to be under siege…

Read the full investigation here. 

8 notes·
China
food safety
June 15th, 2011
We wanted this child to have everything. That’s why we worked this hard. That’s why we poisoned ourselves at this factory. Now it turns out the child is poisoned too. I have no words to describe how I feel.
Han Zongyuan of Mengxi Village in China describes his feelings after being told that his 3-year old daughter had “absorbed enough lead to irreversibly diminish her intellectual capacity and harm her nervous system.” His daughter and over 300 other adults and children were poisoned by lead emissions from Zhejiang Haijiu Battery Factory, a maker of lead-acid batteries for motorcycles and electric bikes. Via New York Times 
31 notes·
china
lead
poison
health
news
Loading tweets...

@CIRonline

At The Center for Investigative Reporting, we believe journalism that moves citizens to action is an essential pillar of democracy. Since 1977, CIR has relentlessly pursued and uncovered injustices that otherwise would be hidden from the public eye. Today, we are upholding this legacy and looking forward, working at the forefront of journalistic innovation to produce important stories that make a difference and engage our audiences across the aisle, coast to coast, and worldwide. What drives our work isn't profit – it's impact. Learn more at http://cironline.org/

Networks