Swifter, Higher, Stronger

It's Olympics time once again. I've always had a deep affection for the athletic endeavors of the Olympics. And yes, an unabashed surge of national pride and spirit, rooting for our American team. From Bruce Jenner and Mark Spitz in 1976, the hockey team in 1980, everything in 1984; Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, Mary Lou Retton, and so on and so on. I love the Olympics.

Political sub-texts aside (China is still a manifestly repressive society) I hope the games go well and do indeed lead to greater modernization and greater freedoms for this largest (1.3 billion people) of nations.

Heparin Problem has not gone away

I posted about the Heparin problem back in January here. Apparently the situation has gotten worse. A recent New York Times article details the latest developments.

Here's the opening graphs:

The number of suspicious deaths in the United States linked to the blood thinner heparin has risen to 62 from 19, with most of them reported this past December, January and February, according to the first detailed analyses of heparin fatalities by the Food and Drug Administration.

The F.D.A. is still investigating whether those deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions were caused by a heparinlike contaminant made in China that was added to the drug somewhere during the manufacturing process.

The drug agency defined suspicious deaths as those involving one or more allergic reactions or a drop in blood pressure. There have been no reports of deaths since the end of February, after Baxter International recalled heparin made with ingredients from a Chinese supplier.

Before we jump to conclusions about Baxter:

In addition to Baxter, companies that have recalled heparin products made with Chinese ingredients include Covidien, formerly Tyco Healthcare, and B. Braun. Both Covidien and Braun said that they had received no reports of adverse reactions from the heparin and that the recalls had been undertaken merely as a precaution.

The common thread between this product and some seemingly unrelated consumer goods is China. I posted about China's exports last year here. Coincidence for the 2008 Olympic Summer Games host? Time will tell.

China's paradox

They're two they're four they're six they're eight
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
red and green and brown and blue
they're the really useful crew

(too bad they're toxic to me and you)

Once again toys coming out of China are found to contain high levels of lead in the surface paint and some metal parts.

So the country that hasn't allowed imports of foreign-made factor products for nearly 20 years (see post below) out of concern for its hemophilia population has very little trouble exporting toxic toys (including our buddy Thomas) around the world and says it's no big deal.

In Bejing, Commerce Ministry spokesman Wang Xinpei on Thursday said: "Our attitude toward the toy problem has always been the same, that the problem is one in a thousand. We'll still be highly responsible and seriously solve the problem."

Nice. I'm all for China being connected to the world market but hey you've got to play by the rules. We don't send stuff that hurts your people, you don't send stuff that hurts our people.